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Orthodox Confession
St Peter Mogila, tr. Lodvel, 1762
Part 1, 7. Questions 61–70
Question 61
In that Day, peradventure, all Men in general must give an Account of their Actions and Affairs; but I would know whether every one, at his Departure from this Life, giveth an Account of his Life, and answers, as it were, in a particular Judgment.
Answer.
The Judgment of that Day will not be by inquiring after every minute Circumstance, for all things are known and manifest unto God; and as every one, at the Time of his Death, is fully conscious to himself of all his Faults, so does every one, after death, very well know what is to be the Rewards of his Deserts; For as his Deeds are manifest, so is the Will of God concerning them also manifest. As Gregory the Divine sayeth (Funeral Oration of his Brother Cæsarius), “I am induced to believe, that, as wise Men say, the good and acceptable Soul, when its espousal with the Body is dissolved, enjoying with the Powers of its Mind the Good which it possesses (for that which before clouded it with Darkness being now purged away, or laid aside, or what no Words can express), is enraptured, and exults with a most singular and transporting Joy, and flies rejoicing to its Lord (whilst it escapes from this Life, as from a loathsome Prison, and spurns under its Feet the Shackles which fettered before the Wings of its Mind) to taste, as in Imagination, the Bliss in store for it.
“And when, not long after, it again receives its well-known Body from the Earth, which first supplied, and now had kept it safe in store; after a Manner only known to God, who first joined, and afterwards separated them; with that Body, wherein it had afore lived the heavenly Life, it enters now united, to possess the Heritage of celestial Glory.”
In like manner may be considered the wicked Souls; namely, that they are immediately sensible of the Torments that await them. Howbeit, neither the Just nor the Wicked receive the full Recompense of their Deeds before the final Judgment; nor are they all in one State, nor limited to one Place. Now, from hence it is clear enough that this could not be, before the general Judgment, without some kind of (as it were) particular Judgment: And such a particular Judgment as this there is only. When, therefore, we say that God does not require an exact Account of our Lives, it is to be understood that we mean, not according to the Forms and Weakness of human Tribunals.
Question 62
Are not all the Souls of the Saints placed in the same Degree of Happiness after Death?
Answer.
As the Souls do not all go out of this Life in the same Degree of divine Grace, so neither after their Departure are they in one and the same Degree of Happiness. This we learn from Christ himself (John xiv. 2), In my Father’s House are many Mansions. And elsewhere (Luke vii. 47), Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. To the same Purpose speaks the Apostle (Rom. xi. 6), Who will render unto every Man according to his Deeds.
Question 63
What are we to think concerning those who depart hence under the Wrath of God?
Answer.
Of these, some, after the last Judgment, will be punished with greater, some with lesser Torments; but both will be without End. As the Scripture declareth (Luke xii. 47), That Servant that knew his Lord’s Will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his Will, shall be beaten with many Stripes: But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of Stripes, shall be beaten with few Stripes.
Question 64
Do not some die, so as to be in a medium between the Blessed and the Damned?
Answer.
Of these there be not any; nevertheless, it is certain that many Sinners are freed from the Chains of Hades; not by their own Repentance or Confession, as the Scripture saith (Psal. vi. 5), In the Pit who shall give Thanks unto thee? And elsewhere (Psal. cxv. 17), The Dead praise not thee, O Lord; neither all them that go down into the Pit; but for the good Works and Alms of the Living, and for the Prayers of the Church, made in their Behalf; but chiefly for the sake of the unbloody Sacrifice (the Liturgy) which the Church daily offers up for the Living and the Dead; in like manner as Christ also died for both. But the Souls of such are by no means to be delivered by their own Works; as Theophylact, treating on these Words of Christ, in the sixth Chapter of Luke, To whom Power is given of forgiving Sins on Earth, teacheth; saying, “Observe, it is said on Earth; For so long as we continue on Earth we can wipe out our Sins, but after we leave this Earth we are no more able of ourselves to cancel our Sins by our Confessions. The ‘Doors then are shut.’” And again, on the Words of Matthew (chap. xxii. 13), Bind him Hand and Foot, by which the active Faculties of the Soul are meant, he says, In this Life we may labour and endeavour, but afterwards the active Faculties of the Soul are bound, nor can we any more do ought atonement for our Offences. And farther, on the 25th Chapter of the same Gospel, he says, “There is no more Time for Repentance and good Works after this Life.” From all which it is clear, that after its separation the Soul can no more perform Penance, nor do any other work whereby it might be freed from the Chains of Hades. Therefore, only the Sacrifices, the Prayers and Alms, which are performed by the Living, for their sakes, do comfort and greatly benefit the Souls, and free them from the Bonds of Hades.
Question 65
What, then, are we to think concerning the Alms and good Works, which are performed for the Comfort of the Departed?
Answer.
Theophylact, expounding these Words of Christ (Luke xii. 5), Fear him who hath Power to cast into Hell, thus treats of this Matter, “Observe, my Brethren, Christ saith not, fear him who, after he hath killed, casteth into Hell, but who hath Power to cast into Hell. For he casteth not all who died in their Sins into Hell, but it is in the Hand of God to do so, and also to pardon them. ‘This, I say, concerning the pious Offerings and Intercessions which are made for the Good of those that sleep. For these things are of no small Benefits, even to those who depart hence in the most grievous State of Sin. God doth not, then, cast the Guilty into Hell when he hath killed them; but he hath Power to cast them into Hell. Wherefore let us not cease to endeavour, again and again, by our Alms and our Intercessions, to implore his Favour, who, having the Power to cast into Hell, doth not always exert it; but hath, also, Power to indulge with Pardon.’”
We are therefore taught by the holy Scripture, and the Exposition of this Father, that we ought, by all means, to pray for the Departed, to offer the unbloody Sacrifice for them, and to dispense our Alms with a liberal Hand; seeing they can no more perform these good Works for themselves.
Question 66
What are we to think of the Fire of Purgatory?
Answer.
It is nowhere taught in the holy Scriptures that there is any temporary Punishment, whereby the Soul, after Death, may be purged. On the contrary, the Church, in the second Council of Constantinople, did condemn Origen for this very Opinion. Moreover, it is evident that the Soul, when once departed, cannot again become a partaker of the Sacraments of the Church. Could this be, that the Soul could satisfy there for Sins committed in this Life, then, by like Reason, it might partake of the Sacraments of Penance there; which being contrary to orthodox Doctrine, the Church rightly and wisely offers the unbloody Sacrifice for those Souls, together with her Prayers, that they may be forgiven those things wherein they had offended, whilst they continued in this Life: And not that they might be delivered from any Punishment that they were then suffering for a Time only. Our Church doth not admit or approve of such Fables as some Men have fancied concerning the State of Souls after Death; as that they are tormented in Pits and Waters, and with sharp Prongs, when they are snatched away by Death before they can have done sufficient Penance for their Faults.
Question 67
What Place is particularly appointed for those Souls that go hence in a State of Grace and Favour with God?
Answer.
Those Souls of Men which depart hence in Favour with God, and have wiped out their Sins by Repentance, have their Place in the Hand of God. As saith the holy Scripture (Wisd. iii. 1), The Souls of the Righteous are in the Hand of God, and there shall no torments touch them. Their place is also named Paradise, as our Lord Christ called it to the Thief on the Cross (Luke xxiii. 43), Verily I say unto thee, This Day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. It is also called Abraham’s Bosom; as in Luke xvi. 22, And it came to pass that the Beggar died, and was carried by the Angels into Abraham’s Bosom. Sometimes it is named the Kingdom of Heaven, as it was by our Lord (Matth. xiii. 11), I say unto you, that many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. By whichsoever of these three Names that we have mentioned any one shall call the Receptacle of righteous Souls, he will not err; provided that he believes and understands thus much, that they enjoy the Favour of God, and are in his heavenly Kingdom, and, as the Hymns of the Church mention, in Heaven.
Question 68
Where is the Place of those Souls who leave their Bodies under the Displeasure of God?
Answer.
Many Names are given to that Place: It is called Hell, into which the Devil, when thrust out of Heaven, was driven; as the Prophet testifies (Isai. xiv. 14), I will ascend above the Heights of the Clouds; I will be like the Most High, saith Satan. Yet thou shalt be brought down to Hell, to the Sides of the Pit. Again, it is called Everlasting Fire; as the Scripture saith (Matth. xxv. 41), Depart from me, ye cursed, into Everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Likewise it is named Outer Darkness (ver. 30), Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into Outer Darkness; there shall be wailing and gnashing of Teeth. It is called by many other Names, all of which mean a Place of Condemnation and the Wrath of God. To this Place go down the Souls of all those who die at Enmity with God, and under his Wrath; and here are they damned. This, then, is to be believed by the Faithful, That as the Souls of the Righteous, although received into Heaven, do not receive the full and perfect Crown of Glory before the last Judgment, so neither do the Souls of the Damned feel and suffer the full Measure and Weight of the Punishments before that Time. But after that final and decisive Judgment, the Souls of all, rejoined to their Bodies, will be crowned with Glory or overwhelmed with Torments.
Question 69
What is the eighth Article of the Faith?
Answer.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets.
Question 70
What doth this Article teach?
Answer.
Three Things. First, That the Holy Ghost is God, of the same Substance with the Father and the Son; as these Words of the Apostle do manifest (1 Cor. xii. 4), There are Diversity of Gifts, but the same Spirit: And Difference of Administrations, but the same Lord: And there are Diversities of Operations, but it is the same God that worketh in all. And again (2 Cor. xiii. 14), The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Now, whereas, in these Texts, the Holy Ghost is sometimes first named, and sometimes the Son, it is because all the three Persons are of the same Substance and Partakers of equal Honours. And not because the Son differeth aught from the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Ghost from the Son, in their Essence (to say which would be Blasphemy); but because, as we said before, they are both of the same Essence and Glory; and also because the Son and the Holy Ghost both of them immediately and equally have their Origin of the Father; the Son as being begotten, and the Holy Ghost as proceeding. According to what Peter declareth to Ananias in Acts (ver. 3), Why hath Satan filled thine Heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? And presently after he concludes (ver. 4), Thou hast not lied unto Men, but unto God. The Holy Ghost is, therefore, certainly true and very God.