Purgatory

===Eastern Orthodoxy===
{{Main|Christian views on Hades}}
{{See also|Prayer for the dead#Eastern Christianity|l1=Prayer for the dead in Eastern Christianity|Memorial service (Orthodox)|l2=Orthodox memorial service}}
[[File:Koimesis Icon Sinai 13th century.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Dormition of the Theotokos]] (a thirteenth-century icon)]]
While the Eastern Orthodox Church rejects the term ''Purgatory'', it acknowledges an intermediate state after death and before final judgment, and offers prayer for the dead. According to the [[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]:

<blockquote>The moral progress of the soul, either for better or for worse, ends at the very moment of the separation of the body and soul; at that very moment the definite destiny of the soul in the everlasting life is decided. ...There is no way of repentance, no way of escape, no reincarnation and no help from the outside world. Its place is decided forever by its Creator and judge. The Orthodox Church does not believe in Purgatory (a place of purging), that is the inter-mediate state after death in which the souls of the saved (those who have not received temporal punishment for their sins) are purified of all taint preparatory to entering into Heaven, where every soul is perfect and fit to see God. Also, the Orthodox Church does not believe in indulgences as remissions from purgatorial punishment. Both purgatory and indulgences are inter-corelated theories, unwitnessed in the Bible or in the Ancient Church, and when they were enforced and applied they brought about evil practices at the expense of the prevailing Truths of the Church. If Almighty God in His merciful loving-kindness changes the dreadful situation of the sinner, it is unknown to the Church of Christ. The Church lived for fifteen hundred years without such a theory.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7076|title=Death, the Threshold to Eternal Life – Liturgy & Worship – Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America|website=www.goarch.org|access-date=2011-01-20|archive-date=2010-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612232046/http://goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7076|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

Eastern Orthodox teaching is that, while all undergo an [[particular judgment|individual judgment]] immediately after death, neither the just nor the wicked attain the final state of bliss or punishment before the Last Day,<ref>[[John Meyendorff]], ''Byzantine Theology'' (London: Mowbrays, 1974) pp. 220–221. "At death man's body goes to the earth from which it was taken, and the soul, being immortal, goes to God, who gave it. The souls of men, being conscious and exercising all their faculties immediately after death, are judged by God. This judgment following man's death we call the [[Particular Judgment]]. The final reward of men, however, we believe will take place at the time of the [[General Judgment]]. During the time between the Particular and the General Judgment, which is called the Intermediate State, the souls of men have foretaste of their blessing or punishment" ([http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article8029.asp The Orthodox Faith] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218141048/http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article8029.asp |date=2007-12-18 }}).</ref> with some exceptions for righteous souls like the [[Theotokos]] ([[Blessed Virgin Mary]]), "who was borne by the angels directly to heaven."<ref>Michael Azkoul, [http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html ''What Are the Differences Between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040603064944/http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html |date=2004-06-03 }}</ref>

The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that it is necessary to believe in this intermediate after-death state in which souls are perfected and brought to full [[Theosis (Eastern Orthodox theology)|divinization]], a process of growth rather than of punishment, which some Orthodox have called purgatory.<ref>Ted A. Campbell, ''Christian Confessions: a Historical Introduction'' (Westminster John Knox Press 1996 {{ISBN|0-664-25650-3}}), p. 54</ref> Eastern Orthodox theology does not generally describe the situation of the dead as involving suffering or fire, although it nevertheless describes it as a "direful condition".<ref name="Confession of Dositheus">{{cite web |editor=Dennis Bratcher |url=http://www.cresourcei.org/creeddositheus.html |title=The Confession of Dositheus |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221201226/http://www.cresourcei.org/creeddositheus.html |archive-date=2009-02-21}} Decree 18</ref> The souls of the righteous dead are in light and rest, with a foretaste of eternal happiness; but the souls of the wicked are in a state the reverse of this. Among the latter, such souls as have departed with faith but "without having had time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance ... may be aided towards the attainment of a blessed resurrection [at the end of time] by prayers offered in their behalf, especially those offered in union with the oblation of the bloodless sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, and by works of mercy done in faith for their memory."<ref>''[http://www.pravoslavieto.com/docs/eng/Orthodox_Catechism_of_Philaret.htm#gen0 Catechism of St. Philaret of Moscow] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703171158/http://www.pravoslavieto.com/docs/eng/Orthodox_Catechism_of_Philaret.htm#gen0 |date=2007-07-03 }},'' 372 and 376; Constas H. Demetry, [http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/catechis.html ''Catechism of the Eastern Orthodox Church''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615201423/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/catechis.html |date=2006-06-15 }} p. 37; John Meyendorff, ''Byzantine Theology'' (London: Mowbrays, 1974) p. 96; cf. "The Orthodox party ... remarked that the words quoted from the book of Maccabees, and our Saviour's words, can only prove that some sins will be forgiven after death" (OrthodoxInfo.com, [http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/death/stmark_purg.aspx ''The Orthodox Response to the Latin Doctrine of Purgatory''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051109092727/http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/death/stmark_purg.aspx |date=2005-11-09 }})</ref>

The state in which souls undergo this experience is often referred to as "[[Hades]]".<ref>[http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html ''What Are the Differences Between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040603064944/http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html |date=2004-06-03 }};  Constas H. Demetry, [http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/catechis.html ''Catechism of the Eastern Orthodox Church''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615201423/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/catechis.html |date=2006-06-15 }} p. 37</ref>

The ''Orthodox Confession'' of [[Peter Mogila]] (1596–1646), adopted, in a Greek translation by Meletius Syrigos, by the 1642 Council of [[Iaşi|Jassy]] in Romania, professes that "many are freed from the prison of hell ... through the good works of the living and the Church's prayers for them, most of all through the unbloody sacrifice, which is offered on certain days for all the living and the dead" (question 64); and (under the heading "How must one consider the purgatorial fire?") "the Church rightly performs for them the unbloody sacrifice and prayers, but they do not cleanse themselves by suffering something. The Church never maintained that which pertains to the fanciful stories of some concerning the souls of their dead who have not done penance and are punished, as it were, in streams, springs and swamps." (question 66).<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/19990421091223/http://esoptron.umd.edu/ugc/ocf1c.html Orthodox Confession of Faith]'', questions 64–66.</ref>

The Eastern Orthodox [[Synod of Jerusalem (1672)]] declared: 
{{quote|"The souls of those that have fallen asleep are either at rest or in torment, according to what each hath wrought" (an enjoyment or condemnation that will be complete only after the resurrection of the dead); but the souls of some "depart into [[Hades]], and there endure the punishment due to the sins they have committed. But they are aware of their future release from there, and are delivered by the Supreme Goodness, through the prayers of the Priests and the good works which the relatives of each do for their Departed, especially the unbloody Sacrifice benefiting the most, which each offers particularly for his relatives that have fallen asleep and which the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Catholic and Apostolic Church]] offers daily for all alike. Of course, it is understood that we do not know the time of their release. We know and believe that there is deliverance for such from their direful condition, and that before the [[resurrection of the dead|common resurrection]] and [[Last Judgment|judgment]], but when we know not."<ref name="Confession of Dositheus"/>}}

Some Orthodox believe in a teaching of "[[aerial toll-house]]s" for the souls of the dead. According to this theory, which is rejected by other Orthodox but appears in the hymnology of the church,<ref>In both the Greek and Slavonic Euchologion, in the canon for the departure of the soul by St. Andrew, we find in Ode 7: "All holy angels of the Almighty God, have mercy upon me and save me from all the evil toll-houses" ([http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/tollhouses.htm Evidence for the Tradition of the Toll Houses found in the Universally Received Tradition of the Church).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126173525/http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/tollhouses.htm |date=2010-11-26 }} "When my soul is about to be forcibly parted from my body's limbs, then stand by my side and scatter the counsels of my bodiless foes and smash the teeth of those who implacably seek to swallow me down, so that I may pass unhindered through the rulers of darkness who wait in the air, O Bride of God" ([http://www.anastasis.org.uk/weekday_vespers1.htm Octoechos, Tone Two, Friday Vespers).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422024734/http://www.anastasis.org.uk/weekday_vespers1.htm |date=2014-04-22 }} "Pilot my wretched soul, pure Virgin, and have compassion on it, as it slides under a multitude of offences into the deep of destruction; and at the fearful hour of death snatch me from the accusing demons and from every punishment" ([http://www.anastasis.org.uk/weekday_vespers1.htm Ode 6, Tone 1 Midnight Office for Sunday).] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422024734/http://www.anastasis.org.uk/weekday_vespers1.htm |date=2014-04-22 }}</ref> "following a person's death the soul leaves the body and is escorted to God by angels. During this journey the soul passes through an aerial realm which is ruled by demons. The soul encounters these demons at various points referred to as 'toll-houses' where the demons then attempt to accuse it of sin and, if possible, drag the soul into hell."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/evangelist/2000/deathtoll.htm|title=Saint Luke the Evangelist Orthodox Church is a Chicago Parish of the Orthodox Church in America located in Palos Hills, Illinois|website=www.stlukeorthodox.com|access-date=2007-12-20|archive-date=2016-11-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106080904/http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/html/evangelist/2000/deathtoll.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some early patristic theologians of the Eastern Church taught and believed in "[[apocatastasis]]", the belief that all creation would be restored to its original perfect condition after a remedial purgatorial reformation. [[Clement of Alexandria]] was one of the early church theologians who taught this view.