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==Definition== '''Purgatory''' refers to a doctrine in the [[Roman Catholic Church]] which posits that those who die in a state of grace undergo a purification in order to achieve the holiness necessary to enter heaven (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1030).<sup>[http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#III]</sup>The doctrine is linked to the universal tradition of [[Prayer#Prayer_for_the_dead\Prayer for the Dead]]. St John of Damascus sums up the patristic consensus on the doctrine like this: :One who has departed unrepentant and with an evil life cannot be helped by anyone in any way. But the one who has departed even with the slightest virtue, but who had no time to increase this virtue because of indolence, indifference, procrastination, or timidity, the Lord Who is a righteous judge and master will not forget such a one. —(St John of Damascus) What St John was saying was that, while there is no forgiveness of sins after death for the unrepentant, for the faithful departed God will make up for what is lacking so that they can be maximally happy with him in heaven forever. It has been the connection of Christians and Jews throughout history that our prayers for the faithful departed actually benefit them and help them to rest in peace and to finally receive this eternal happiness. The way of defining purgatory that is most acceptable to the Eastern Orthodox mind is to say that those who are being saved by [[Repentance]] and [[Baptism]] and participation in the sacramental life of the Church but whose sins, nonetheless, continue to create lasting effects such as passions, addictions, attachments to worldly things which inhibit their spiritual growth and progress toward theosis, are given the grace of having these lasting effects expiated so that they can receive the Vision of God. The way of spiritual progress moves beyond Baptism through three stages, Purification, Illumination, and finally Theosis. For those who die in a state of faith and repentance but before having completed these stages of spiritual progress, their eternal salvation is not in doubt, but this does not abrogate the need to pass through these stages. That said, Greek Orthodox [[Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia|Metropolitan Kallistos Ware]] acknowledges several schools of thought among the Orthodox on the topic of purification after death. This divergence indicates that certain Catholic interpretations of purgatory, specifically the satisfaction model, more than the concept itself, are what is universally rejected. Also, there are Orthodox sources that indicate some sins can be forgiven after death<sup>[http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/death/stmark_purg.aspx];(Mt 12:32)</sup> but which also reject the teaching of purgatory because of the doctrine of indulgences and idea of literal purgatorial fire that are tied to it. ==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>
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>
==Aerial Toll-Houses==
Other Orthodox believe in the "[[Aerial Toll-Houses|toll gate]]" theory by which the dead go to successive "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.
