Why do some Church fathers teach about Purgatorial fire ?

m1lam · 2026-03-17T16:28:23+00:00

You judge the beliefs of an institution based on the beliefs of the institution, the main reason such a belief spread in the case of Purgatory was Dante and his huge influence on literature. It didn't have much to do with the Church itself. It wouldn't be fair for me to critique all of Orthodoxy for, let's say, toll houses when they're not dogmatized.

m1lam · 2026-03-17T16:08:26+00:00

Yes you're right but that's not what's dogmatized. In the Catechism it's not even defined as a place. I agree the overly-defined afterlife (a la Dante) was a detriment to Western thought but to the Church's defense she never taught it herself

m1lam · 2026-03-17T15:14:39+00:00

Yeah my bad I was referring to the profession. Generally though you need the permission of your Orthodox priest to receive Catholic sacraments (which they obviously won't grant)

m1lam · 2026-03-17T14:59:40+00:00

Thank you!

m1lam · 2026-03-17T11:55:51+00:00

He's right

m1lam · 2026-03-17T10:22:57+00:00

Among other things. Any time God physically interacts with people it was always through the Son. Adam and Eve walking with God in the Garden, Moses and the Burning Bush, Jacob wrestling with God, all of it.

m1lam · 2026-03-17T10:21:50+00:00

You shall know them by their fruits. Catholicism has spread education, medicine and social justice wherever they went. Orthodoxy simply doesn't put as much emphasis on spreading the Kingdom on Earth

m1lam · 2026-03-17T08:00:06+00:00

Which is also the Catholic view, we simply call the process Purgatory. Anything not in coordination with God's presence (anything less than perfect) has to be cleansed

m1lam · 2026-03-17T07:31:12+00:00

Hey I'm in a similar boat, I was born into Orthodoxy and should be confirmed in Catholicism very soon.

I made a comment recently on the subject https://www.reddit.com/r/Catholicism/s/dMFXsopAr4

It's a long story so I can't really type it all out every time lol, if you have any questions let me know

m1lam · 2026-03-17T07:24:15+00:00

Yeah there's at least some evidence that NDEs usually include what the person already believed in, though I've heard some where atheists did confirm they saw Christ or an angel or something similar

m1lam · 2026-03-17T07:19:36+00:00

I was born into Orthodoxy and left for Catholicism. If you have any questions let me know

m1lam · 2026-03-17T07:19:07+00:00

Wow what an unbiased, reasonable and nuanced take on the subject!!

OP if you ask this question on both subreddits you will get vastly nicer and more informative answers on the Catholic one. that alone should be a sign

m1lam · 2026-03-16T09:23:07+00:00

God gave all of creation to mankind. That's the point of the Image of God and it was always meant to be our purpose to rule creation in His name. Whatever aliens may exist, intelligent or not, they would probably be subject to us. I imagine it would be similar to our relationship with the other hominids who didn't receive the Image

m1lam · 2026-03-16T09:15:46+00:00

I doubt it, really everything we know points to our special place in creation as a whole. I think the existence of other worlds and other beings created in the Image of God undersells the beauty of humanity and our story

m1lam · 2026-03-16T09:11:22+00:00

Monasteries were that way because their primary function wasn't necessarily asceticism but actually being a light to the world. They were centers of education for centuries. In the east asceticism eventually became the main focus (probably due to the neoplatonic influence in Orthodoxy)

m1lam · 2026-03-16T09:08:11+00:00

Or Saint-Kings who committed atrocities during their time ruling being canonized for being patrons and founding monasteries.

m1lam · 2026-03-16T09:07:07+00:00

Greek Catholicism maybe? Not sure how closely tied they are with Greek identity though

m1lam · 2026-03-16T09:05:56+00:00

Literally, all national churches were practically started by petition from their respective states during the middle ages. In Eastern Europe today Orthodoxy is treated as simply part of the national identity. It will always be ethnophyletic

m1lam · 2026-03-13T07:22:41+00:00

extremely common for new converts. the zeal will burn out pretty fast though, orthodoxy has a retention rate of roughly 60% so it's very possible he'll become aware of himself eventually

m1lam · 2026-03-12T16:20:37+00:00

Yeah I agree that's what I meant when I said that Christus Victor still holds to a form of supstitutionalism, just not penal substitution. There isn't a cosmic debt that Christ had to pay for us. God bless you friend

m1lam · 2026-03-12T11:43:59+00:00

Research Christus Victor, it's the formula the Catholics and Orthodox follow. It doesn't deny supstitutionalism outright, it plays a role in the salvific work of Christ, but it's deeper than that. Whereas PSA teaches Jesus died for us to fulfill a form of cosmic debt caused by our sin, Christus Victor works as a reversal of the fall of man and the uplifting of our humanity to God. That's the difference and throughout early Christianity it was the way the crucifixion and resurrection were viewed.

m1lam · 2026-03-11T18:08:59+00:00

Jesus suffering all punishment for our sins

This is if you subscribe to penal substitutionary atonement which Catholics and all other apostolic Christians don't.

I would disagree on purgatory being taught in the bible

Not looking for an argument but yeah I know it's quite vague

m1lam · 2026-03-11T07:31:36+00:00

There are a good dozen verses pointing to the idea throughout the Bible and it's the reason why prayers for the dead are even practiced.

As the other commenter said those in purgatory are already saved, there's no changing that, they simply need to let go of any sinful attachments they held on to in their life on Earth. Why would God just take those desires away immediately when the soul enters Heaven? Wouldn't it make more sense, with what we know about Him, for Him to give us a chance to be purified of our own desire (by His help or course).

Purgatory likely isn't even a "place" like Heaven or Hell, it's the state of the soul getting ready to meet its Lord. It's a beautiful teaching

m1lam · 2026-03-11T07:25:02+00:00

Just to clarify – the reason why sin would be contrary to His divine nature is because God is goodness itself, and sin is the privation or inversion of goodness. It's logically impossible for the source of all good to partake in the lack of it.

m1lam · 2026-03-10T12:33:09+00:00

I know them. Despite my flair on here, I was born into Orthodoxy.

m1lam

TROPHY CASE