|
Purgatory, according to Catholic Church doctrine, is an intermediate state after physical death in which those destined for heaven "undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven".〔(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030 )〕 Only those who die in the state of grace but have not in life reached a sufficient level of holiness can be in Purgatory, and therefore no one in Purgatory will remain forever in that state or go to hell. This notion has old roots. The notion of Purgatory is associated particularly with the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church (in the Eastern sui juris churches or rites it is a doctrine, though it is not often called "Purgatory", but the "final purification" or the "final theosis"); Anglicans of the Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief, along with many Lutherans of High Church Lutheranism. Eastern Orthodox Churches believe in the possibility of a change of situation for the souls of the dead through the prayers of the living and the offering of the Divine Liturgy, and many Orthodox, especially among ascetics, hope and pray for a general apocatastasis.〔Olivier Clément, L'Église orthodoxe. Presses Universitaries de France, 2006, Section 3, IV〕 Judaism also believes in the possibility of after-death purification and may even use the word "purgatory" to present its understanding of the meaning of Gehenna.〔(Gehinnom )〕 However, the concept of soul "purification" may be explicitly denied in these other faith traditions. The word "Purgatory", derived through Anglo-Norman and Old French from the Latin word purgatorium,〔"Purgatory," Oxford English Dictionary〕 has come to refer also to a wide range of historical and modern conceptions of postmortem suffering short of everlasting damnation,〔 and is used, in a non-specific sense, to mean any place or condition of suffering or torment, especially one that is temporary.〔(Collins English Dictionary )〕 ==History of the belief== (詳細はLatin ''purgatorium'') as a noun appeared perhaps only between 1160 and 1180, giving rise to the idea of purgatory as a place〔(Megan McLaughlin, Consorting with Saints: Prayer for the Dead in Early Medieval France (Cornell University Press 1994 ISBN 978-0-8014-2648-3), p. 18 )〕 (what Jacques Le Goff called the "birth" of purgatory),〔LeGoff, Jacques. ''The Birth of Purgatory''. Trans. Arthur Goldhammer. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1986, Pg 362–66〕 the Roman Catholic tradition of Purgatory as a transitional condition has a history that dates back, even before Jesus Christ, to the worldwide practice of caring for the dead and praying for them, and to the belief, found also in Judaism,〔Cf. 〕 which is considered the precursor of Christianity, that prayer for the dead contributed to their afterlife purification. The same practice appears in other traditions, such as the medieval Chinese Buddhist practice of making offerings on behalf of the dead, who are said to suffer numerous trials.〔(Purgatory ) in Encyclopædia Britannica〕 Roman Catholic belief in after-life purification is based on the practice of praying for the dead, which is mentioned in what the Roman Catholic Church has declared to be part of Sacred Scripture, and which was adopted by Christians from the beginning, a practice that presupposes that the dead are thereby assisted between death and their entry into their final abode.〔 Belief in after-life "temporary punishments agreeable to every one's behaviour and manners" was expressed in the early Christian work in Greek known as Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades, which was once attributed to Josephus (37 – c. 100) but is now believed to be by Hippolytus of Rome (170–235).〔''Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades'', paragraph 1〕 Shortly before becoming a Roman Catholic,〔Newman was working on ''An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine'' since 1842 ((Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 ), i.e. Encyclopaedia Britannica Eleventh Edition, and sent it to the printer in September 1845 ((Ian Turnbull Kern, ''Newman the Theologian'' - University of Notre Dame Press 1990 ISBN 9780268014698, p. 149). ) He was received into the Catholic Church on 9 October of the same year.〕 the English scholar John Henry Newman argued that the ''essence'' of the doctrine is locatable in ancient tradition, and that the core consistency of such beliefs is evidence that Christianity was "originally given to us from heaven".〔John Henry Newman, ''An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine'', chapter 2, section 3, paragraph 2.〕 Roman Catholics consider the teaching on Purgatory, but not the imaginative accretions, to be part of the faith derived from the revelation of Jesus Christ that was preached by the Apostles. Of the early Church Fathers, Origen says that “He who comes to be saved, comes to be saved through () fire” that burns away sins and worldliness like lead, leaving behind only pure gold.〔''Homilies on Exodus'' 6:4. See http://books.google.com/books?id=sLpDsFbzv2wC&pg=PA330#v=onepage&q&f=false#page=330〕 St. Ambrose of Milan speaks of a kind of "baptism of fire" which is located at the entrance to Heaven, and through which all must pass, at the end of the world.〔''Sermons on Ps. 117(116)'', Sermon 3, 14-15. See http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/02m/0339-0397,_Ambrosius,_In_Psalmum_David_CXVIII_Expositio,_MLT.pdf#page=16〕 Pope St. Gregory the Great says that the belief in Purgatory is “established” (constat), and “to be believed” (credendum), insisting however, that the Purgatorial fire can only purify away minor transgressions, not “iron, bronze, or lead,” or other “hardened” (duriora) sins.〔''Dialogues'', Book 4, Ch. 39. See http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01p/0590-0604,_SS_Gregorius_I_Magnus,_Dialogorum_Libri_IV-De_Vita_et_Miraculis_...,_LT.pdf#page=159〕 By this he meant that attachments to sin, habits of sin, and even venial sins could be removed in Purgatory, but not mortal sin, which, according to Catholic doctrine, causes eternal damnation. Over the centuries, theologians and other Christians then developed the doctrine regarding Purgatory, leading to the definition of the formal doctrine (as distinct from the legendary descriptions found in poetic literature) at the First Council of Lyon (1245), Second Council of Lyon (1274), the Council of Florence (1438–1445), and the Council of Trent (1545–63).〔〔Denzinger, ''The Sources of Catholic Dogma'' (''Enchiridion Symbolorum''), 456, 464, 693, 840, 983, 998.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「purgatory」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|