Thread by @FatherChrisVor1

1/14 🧵
A protestant says: “No such place as Purgatory. It’s Heaven or Hell, no in between.” Let’s walk through Scripture, the Fathers, and the faith of the historic Churches—not to argue, but to clarify what Purgatory is and what it is not.

https://twitter.com/5solasmissy/status/1959077137014550530

2/14
First: what Purgatory is not. It is not a second chance after death. It is not Hell with an exit door. It is not earning salvation. Salvation comes only through Christ. Purgatory is for the saved—for those destined for Heaven.

3/14
Scripture shows us that nothing unclean shall enter Heaven (Rev. 21:27). Yet most of us die still clinging to sins, weaknesses, attachments. God’s love purifies us. Purgatory is that final cleansing, so we may see Him face to face.

4/14
In 2 Maccabees 12:44–46, Judas Maccabeus offers prayers and sacrifice for the dead, that they might be freed from sin. Why pray for the dead if there is no benefit? This is one of the clearest Old Testament glimpses of purgatorial hope.

5/14
St. Paul writes: “The work of each will be tested by fire… If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:13–15). This is not Hell—it is purification of the saved, a fiery cleansing love.

6/14
Elsewhere Paul prays: “May the Lord grant mercy… to Onesiphorus” (2 Tim. 1:18). Why pray for a departed Christian if his fate were sealed? The early Church continued this practice, seeing death not as the end of mercy, but its fulfillment.

7/14
The Fathers of the Church testify. St. Augustine wrote: “Some of the dead are not so good as to be thought unworthy of mercy, nor so bad as to be deemed unworthy of mercy; for these the prayers of the Church are profitable.”

8/14
St. Gregory the Great taught: “The holy souls are purified by the fire of cleansing after death.” The East also speaks of this mystery: not as “purgatory” in Latin terms, but as the soul’s necessary purification before entering divine glory.

9/14
This belief is not a late invention. It is found across the Apostolic Churches—Latin West, Greek East, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and more. All hold that the faithful departed benefit from prayers, almsgiving, and the Eucharist offered on their behalf.

10/14
Notice: this is not about punishment from an angry God. It is about healing from a loving God. As C.S. Lewis put it: “Our souls demand Purgatory… If we have not been cleansed, what else can we wish for?”

11/14
Purgatory, then, is not an “in-between” place, but the final stage of sanctification. It is the soul, already saved, being prepared to behold God with unveiled face (2 Cor. 3:18).

12/14
It is mercy. It is hope. It is the embrace of a God who refuses to leave us half-healed. It is the final “yes” of grace, carrying us across the threshold of eternity.

13/14
So when we pray for the dead, when we offer Masses for them, we are acting in line with Scripture, with the Fathers, and with the whole Apostolic Church. We are loving them into Heaven.

14/14
Heaven or Hell are indeed the final ends. Purgatory does not contradict that—it prepares the saved for Heaven. It is not a third destiny, but the last fire of love. And so we say with joy: “Lord, bring them to perfection in your presence.”