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That the Latin Church has the right to grant indulgences etc. - that is not in dispute by the Eastern Church.

Its just that it isn't part of its theology and Rome has yet to impose them on us today.

As for "pain," this refers to the purgatorial fire and this was not required of the Greeks at Florence.

"Pain" has never been dogmatically defined by the Roman Church. Neither has the imposition of indulgences. They are an affair of the Latin Church - respected by the East and certainly Eastern Catholics may make use of them if they so wish.

Palamas' theology was considered as "Quietism" by RC theologians. Palamas had enemies in the Orthodox Church - but he was fully exonerated.

I understand that Thomas Aquinas himself was once called, by St Bonaventure, the "Father of all heretics."

Alex

No, definitely not! By definition, purification is just that: a purgation of some type of "pollution", if you will. This could be pleasurable, painful, or neither. I have no idea.

Don't get me wrong, PaxTecum. I personally am of the opinion that Purgatory is a painful and maybe even literally "fiery" experience. My only point is that the Church does not require Her faithful to believe anything other than that there IS a purgation in the afterlife and that praying for the souls undergoing this purgation is beneficial for them. If Holy Mother Church decides to be more specific by infallibly defining some other truth about this issue, then I'll certainly assent. If they say it's painful, I'll submit myself to the Teaching of the Magisterium. If they say it is definitely not painful, I'll do likewise. But, right now, no one is required to believe anything other than the two crucial abovementioned points.

Logos Teen

I cannot ammend my previous post, but feel that I need to retract my statement after further thought, I cannot speak for my Latin brethern nor should I, they post in thoughts and expressions far beyond my capabilities and will learn here as I have.

I will restrict any further comments to the posted subject.

In Christ,
james

Thanks for that info! We used to attend a Byzantine parish that was populated almost entirely by RC's. One of our friends refused to pray the chotki because she wanted the indulgence that is granted from praying the rosary. My husband mentioned that to the priest, and he said, "The chotki is indulgenced, too." I guess he was trying his best to satisfy his RC parishioners! :rolleyes:

Personally, I prefer to base my prayer life on building a relationship with God, not whether or not I'm getting an indulgence out of it!

Amen! Amen! AMEN!

I don't know that indulgences really fit into a discussion on purgatory, at least in any direct manner. Indulgences more properly relate to remitting penances after confession, at least historically. For a good, and more balanced discussion of the Latin theology of indulgences, I might reccommend Dr. Scott Hahn's "Indulge Yourself" series from St. Joseph Communications. While I prefer the Eastern understanding of these matters, I think Dr. Hahn has a very good explanation of indulgences from the Western perspective in which indulgences apply first and foremost to one's own self in the here and now as spiritual medicine, which seems much more precise judging from the history of indulgences.

He points out that the reason the Vatican no longer allows indulgences to be given precise times--500 days, 3 years, etc.(one reason why the Pieta prayerbook is uncanonical)--is because people erroneously thought that this had to do with purgatory. It did not!! It had to do with the penances imposed by the Irish confessors in the Middle Ages. Too often, however, people take this approach to indulgences in which they are treated like things to possess, not medicine for the soul.

So PaxTecum, please, before calling indulgences dogmatic, let's first get straight what you mean by indulgences.

Justin