and comforted in the dew of grace."[1] A fire that cleanses, one may urge, is not the fire of hell. On the other hand, it is true that we do not find such a clear or definite conception of purgatory in these Fathers of the 4th century as in our modern catechisms. The essence of the belief is there—a middle state after death in which souls are helped by our prayers; out of this the Church gradually realized more and more clearly what she was to deduce. It is again an example of development. It seems that the Eastern Church has remained in a vaguer state of mind about this point. But there has been no serious disagreement in the past. At the Council of Florence (1439) the Greeks objected to a material fire in purgatory. They were assured that the Latin Church does not define that either and then declared themselves in agreement with the doctrine.[2]
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin was the subject of much discussion between the Scotist and Thomist schools during the middle ages in the West. It was not finally defined by the Pope till 1854. We can certainly not claim that it had been defined earlier by the Easterns. But it is to be noted that the devotion which culminated in that definition came to us from the East. All the Eastern Churches, orthodox or heretical, keep the feast of our Lady's Conception.[3] It is first mentioned by Eastern theologians (St. Andrew of Crete in 675, St. John Damascene, † 744, St. Theodore of Studium, † 826, and others), whereas we hear of it in the West much later, in the 11th century.[4] By keeping its feast then, as distinct from our Lady's birthday on Sept. 8th, these Churches imply that her conception itself is holy and worshipful. But a conception in original sin, which makes a man a child of wrath, whose stain is only removed afterwards, is not to be honoured
- ↑ M.P.G xlvi. 167.
- ↑ For the whole question see Pesch: Præl. dogm. ix. p. 285. Hergenröther: Photius, iii. pp. 643–652. Loch: Das Dogma der griechischen Kirche vom Purgatorium (Regensburg, 1842).
- ↑ Dec. 9. "The child-begetting of the mother of the Mother of God, Anne." This feast is kept by Melkites, Albanians, Jacobites, Copts, Armenians, Nestorians, Maronites, and all Churches in communion with Constantinople.
- ↑ It is supposed to have been introduced by St. Anselm of Canterbury († 1109).
