September 12, 2003
Letter to the Editor
Catholic Advance
424 N. Broadway
Wichita, Kansas 67202
Dear Editor,
I find the "Ask Father" column in The Catholic Advance an
excellent contribution and most helpful to readers.
However, with regard to the article on purgatory (6/11/04),
one reads that "Catholics are the only Christian denomination
that recognizes purgatory." Abstracting from the questionable
notion that the Catholic Church can be reduced to a
"denomination", I would note that the faithful of the
separated Eastern Orthodox churches remain in general support
of the Catholic doctrine as defined in the Reunion Council of
Florence (1439 A.D.).
It is true that some Eastern Orthodox today may verbally deny
belief in purgatory, but this is in contradiction to the
actual liturgical practice of the separated Byzantine
Greco-Slav churches professing the efficacy of the Divine
Liturgy offered for the deceased as well as prayers and alms
offered for their eternal repose.
They also place themselves at odds also with the most
important confession of faith made by the Eastern Orthodox
since their separation from Rome, i.e., the Confession of
Dositheos produced by a Synod convened in Jerusalem in 1672
by the Patriarch Dositheos. There one reads:
"We believe that the souls of those that have fallen asleep
are either at rest or in torment, according to what each has
wrought. Such as though involved in mortal sins have not
departed in despair but have, while still living in the body,
repented, though without bringing any fruits of repentance
– by pouring forth tears, by afflicting themselves, by
relieving the poor, and in fine by showing by their works
their love towards God and their neighbor, and which the
Church has from the beginning rightly called satisfaction
– of these and such like souls depart into Hades
– and these endure the punishments due to their sins
which they have committed."
The "Hades" mentioned in the above is clearly that "middle
state" we Catholics call "purgatory" wherein souls suffer
after death. Catholic faith in the existence of a
purgatorial state after death is remarkably confirmed by the
liturgical and theological tradition concerning the afterlife
retained in the separated Eastern churches.
Sincerely yours,
— James Likoudis,
P.O.Box 852,
Montour Falls, NY 14865
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