A. Prayers for the dead/purgatory

Note: This list is a work in progress, and may change at any time both in the selection of quotations and the content of the annotations. In the meantime, feel free to offer any suggestions.

Augustine

“It is a matter that may be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful, whether some believers shall pass through a kind of purgatorial fire, and in proportion as they have loved with more or less devotion the goods that perish, be less or more quickly delivered from it.” (Enchiridion, chap. 69)1

  1. Although not directly opposed to the doctrine of Purgatory, Augustine at least expresses significant doubt as to its validity, which indicates that the doctrine had no clear consensus among the earlier fathers, nor any real substantiation in the scriptures, Augustine being so well-studied in both respects as to have definite knowledge of such arguments, had they been in existence.

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