Purgatory and Eastern Catholic Churches... QUESTION from Cagri Yilmaz on October 25, 2001 Dear Bro.Ignatius,
Do Eastern Catholic Churches belive in purgatory? If not, how come they can be Catholics? I checked 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and I saw purgatory quite clearly there...Are there any more places in the bible talking about purgatory?
Thank you very much for all your help.
God bless, Cagri
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on February 8, 2002 Dear Mr. Yilmaz:
I am not familiar enough with the Eastern Catholic Churches to make any specific comment.
I can say that the Eastern Catholic Churches do accept and believe all that is required for Catholics to believe. They sometimes use different terminology, but they believe all that Catholics are to believe.
It should be noted that the Church has not formally defined the details of purgatory. Thus there may be differences between the East and West on the details of purgatory. I don't know, but that is possible.
It is not the details but the mere existence of purgatory and its basic function that is defined by the Church. Outside of that we may have different theories as to specifics.
Verses dealing with the theological presumptions behind purgatory include: Matt 5:48; Heb 12:14; James 3:2; Rev 21:27; 1 John 5:16-17; James 1:14-15; 2 Sam 12:13-14; Matt 12:36; 1 Pet 3:18-20; 4:6; 1 Cor 15:29-30
And then verses that more directly give reference to purgatory are: 1 Cor 3:15; 2 Macc 12:44-46; 2 Tim 1:16-18; Matt 12:32;
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