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According to the Summa, the Final Conflagration will act as "purgatory" for those found living who still need cleansing/healing: "There are three reasons why those who will be found living will be able to be cleansed suddenly. One is because there will be few things in them to be cleansed, since they will be already cleansed by the previous fears and persecutions. The second is because they will suffer pain both while living and of their own will: and pain suffered in this life voluntarily cleanses much more than pain inflicted after death, as in the case of the martyrs, because "if anything needing to be cleansed be found in them, it is cut off by the sickle of suffering," as Augustine says (De Unic. Bap. xiii), although the pain of martyrdom is of short duration in comparison with the pain endured in purgatory. The third is because the heat will gain in intensity what it loses in shortness of time."<sup>[http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5074.htm#article8]</sup>
==A Condition of Waiting==
Minor Reorganization
Rather than say that the doctrine of Purgatory is a heresy, it is more accurate to say that it is an ancient ecumenical tradition which, due to the mysterious nature of the subject matter, Christians throughout history have interpreted and explained in a very wide variety of ways, some of which were strongly rejected by Eastern Orthodox Christians.
==Pope Shenouda IIIA Condition of Waiting== The [[Orthodox Church]] has neither explicitly recognized the term "purgatory" nor officially accepted such a state, which is distinct from the more general being "asleep in the Lord." In his book entitled ''Why Do We Reject Purgatory?'', [[Coptic]] [[Pope]] [[Shenouda III (Gayyid) of Alexandria|Shenouda III]] presents many theological and biblical arguments against Purgatory. For example, he refers to 1 Thess 4:16,17, "And the dead in [[Christ]] will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord", in which [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] describes the Last Day saying that those faithful who are still alive will meet the Lord with those who rise from the dead and then remain with Him always, and wonders, "Are these faithful (alive on the Last Day) exempt from Purgatory? Or is God showing partiality towards them?"<sup>[http://www.suscopts.org/messages/lectures/eschlecture7.pdf]</sup> However, a response to this objection from the Catholics is perhaps found in the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, in the discussion of the Final Conflagration. The Final Conflagration is the fiery apocalyptic transformation, accepted by the Fathers, of the Old Heaven and Old Earth into the New Heaven and New Earth on the Last Day, immediately preceding the General Resurrection and General Judgment. It is said that for those still living at the time of the Conflagration, it will transform their bodies; thus technically, in Catholic thought, those found living may also die for a brief moment (ie, the "twinkling of an eye" mentioned in 1 Corinthians).
Some Eastern Orthodox sources, including the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate]], consider Purgatory to be among "inter-correlated theories, unwitnessed in the Bible or in the Ancient Church" that are not acceptable within Orthodox doctrine,<sup>[http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7076]</sup> and hold to a "condition of waiting"<sup>[http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html]</sup> as a more apt description of the period after death for those not borne directly to heaven. This waiting condition does not imply purification, which they see as being linked to the idea "there is no hope of repentance or betterment after death." Prayers for the dead, then, are simply to comfort those in the waiting place.
==Purification==
Going back to the reason for the souls time of waiting, the Catholic Encyclopedia says that this has to do with the souls purity, because, only the pure in heart can see God (Mt 5:7, Rev 21:27). This is entirely consistent, even with modern Orthodox thought. Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos writes:
==Literal Fire or Encounter with Risen Christ==
One of the primary objections to the classical Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is the supposed literal nature of the purgatorial fires. During the middle ages, the Western tradition began to lean more toward a literal interpretation of the fires and even tortur of the souls in Purgatory. A book entitled “St. Patrick's Purgatory” is a particularly egregious example of this tendency. However, medieval Orthodox piety also expressed an overly literal view of the Aerial Toll-Houses. (see below)
==Aerial Toll-Houses==
Other Orthodox believe in the "[[Aerial Toll-Houses|toll gate]]" theory by which the dead go to successive literal "toll gates" where they meet up with demons who test them to determine whether they have been guilty of various sins during life and/or tempt them to further sin.<sup>[http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Seraphim_Rose#Criticism_.26_debate]</sup> If they have not repented and been absolved of those sins, or if they give in to sin after death, they will be taken to Hell.
==Pope Shenouda III==
The [[Orthodox Church]] has neither explicitly recognized the term "purgatory" nor officially accepted such a state, which is distinct from the more general being "asleep in the Lord." In his book entitled ''Why Do We Reject Purgatory?'', [[Coptic]] [[Pope]] [[Shenouda III (Gayyid) of Alexandria|Shenouda III]] presents many theological and biblical arguments against Purgatory. For example, he refers to 1 Thess 4:16,17, "And the dead in [[Christ]] will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord", in which [[Apostle Paul|Paul]] describes the Last Day saying that those faithful who are still alive will meet the Lord with those who rise from the dead and then remain with Him always, and wonders, "Are these faithful (alive on the Last Day) exempt from Purgatory? Or is God showing partiality towards them?"<sup>[http://www.suscopts.org/messages/lectures/eschlecture7.pdf]</sup>
However, a response to this objection from the Catholics is perhaps found in the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas, in the discussion of the Final Conflagration. The Final Conflagration is the fiery apocalyptic transformation, accepted by the Fathers, of the Old Heaven and Old Earth into the New Heaven and New Earth on the Last Day, immediately preceding the General Resurrection and General Judgment. It is said that for those still living at the time of the Conflagration, it will transform their bodies; thus technically, in Catholic thought, those found living may also die for a brief moment (ie, the "twinkling of an eye" mentioned in 1 Corinthians).
According to the Summa, the Final Conflagration will act as "purgatory" for those found living who still need cleansing/healing: "There are three reasons why those who will be found living will be able to be cleansed suddenly. One is because there will be few things in them to be cleansed, since they will be already cleansed by the previous fears and persecutions. The second is because they will suffer pain both while living and of their own will: and pain suffered in this life voluntarily cleanses much more than pain inflicted after death, as in the case of the martyrs, because "if anything needing to be cleansed be found in them, it is cut off by the sickle of suffering," as Augustine says (De Unic. Bap. xiii), although the pain of martyrdom is of short duration in comparison with the pain endured in purgatory. The third is because the heat will gain in intensity what it loses in shortness of time."<sup>[http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5074.htm#article8]</sup>
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