Eastern Christian Intermediate State?

[thephilosopher6]

It is my understanding that Orthodox and Eastern Catholics views on the afterlife are less dogmatized and more spiritual than the western Christian concept.

For eastern Christians, the afterlife is more about continuing Theosis in preparation for the true afterlife, that is, the resurrection of the dead. Some Orthodox, and presumably some Eastern Catholics, profess the idea that even the worst sinners who rejected God in life could enter into a state of Theosis before the final judgment. Eastern Catholics and Orthodox call this the “final Theosis” instead of purgatory like Latin Catholics do. For eastern Christianity, heaven and hell will only be truly experienced at their fullest eternally during the resurrection, when those who have at some point decided to come to God will live in his presence eternally, his love being the paradise. Those who at some point rejected God will be thrown into the “lake of fire” in that, like the saved, they will experience God’s love, but for them his love will be like fire, not paradise, and they will suffer eternally in their own guilt.

What do Latin Catholics and Protestant think of these concepts and difference in tradition?

 

[TigerLily-1]

From the reading I’ve done, what you wrote above aligns with my understanding of what the Eastern Orthodox believe happens after death. They really stress God’s love and mercy. Eastern Christian beliefs resonate deeply in me as Truth.

Hopefully a knowledgeable Eastern Catholic or Eastern Orthodox can confirm and a knowledgeable RCC or “protestant” can give his/her opinion.

 

[Vico]

It is my understanding that Orthodox and Eastern Catholics views on the afterlife are less dogmatized and more spiritual than the western Christian concept.
…

The Three Holy Hierarchs say no repentence after death.

St. John Chrysostom

Prophet David is: “…not implying that our existence lasts only as far as this present life: perish the thought! After all, he is aware of the doctrine of the resurrection. Rather, it is that after our departure from here there would be no time for repentance. For the rich man praised God and repented, but in view of its lateness it did him no good [Luke 16:19-31]. The virgins wanted to get some oil, but no one gave any to them [Matthew 25:1-13]. So this is what this man requests, too, for his sins to be washed away in this life so as to enjoy confidence at the tribunal of the fearsome judge.”

St. John Chrysostom: Commentary on the Psalms, vol. I, trans. Robert C. Hill (Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1998), p. 102).

St. Gregory the Theologian (St. Gregory Nazianzen)

“It is better to be punished and cleansed now than to be transmitted to the torment to come, when it is the time of chastisement, not of cleansing. For as he who remembers God here is conqueror of death (as David has most excellently sung) so the departed have not in the grave confession and restoration; for God has confined life and action to this world, and to the future the scrutiny of what has been done.”

On His Father’s Silence, Oration 16:7.

St. Basil the Great

“In like manner they which have grieved the Holy Spirit by the wickedness of their ways, or have not wrought for Him that gave to them, shall be deprived of what they have received, their grace being transferred to others; or, according to one of the evangelists, they shall even be wholly cut asunder – the cutting asunder meaning complete separation from the Spirit. The body is not divided, part being delivered to chastisement, and part let off; for when a whole has sinned it were like the old fables, and unworthy of a righteous judge, for only the half to suffer chastisement. Nor is the soul cut in two – that soul the whole of which possesses the sinful affection throughout, and works the wickedness in co-operation with the body. The cutting asunder, as I have observed, is the eternal separation of the soul from the Spirit. For now, although the Spirit does not suffer admixture with the unworthy, He nevertheless does seem in a manner to be present with them that have once been sealed, awaiting the salvation which follows on their conversion; but then He will be wholly cut off from the soul that has defiled His grace. For this reason “In Hades there is none that maketh confession; in death none that remembereth God,” because the help of the Spirit is no longer present.”

Treatise on the Holy Spirit, 40

 

[LoyalViews]

It seems to be that what the OP describes is somewhat related to the eastern teachings, conceptions, or interpretation of the tradition of the Church. As stated above, the eastern Churches do heavily emphasize the love and mercy of God. To me, I think it has a lot to do with the Russian soul and the writings of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, the Elder St Paisios, a Greek Orthodox monk, or maybe even the societal repercussions of years of struggle - a want for constant redemption, of love of country and fear of God, of deep introspection and sophistication in understanding life in the most existentialist of ways.

Yet the writings of the hierarchs do line up exactly with Church teaching, because the Fathers of the Church are the interpreters and translators of the divine into human understanding, to the extent that we can.

I think of this story regarding the alcoholic monk. The Elder St Paisios presents a true story yet with a great allegorical effect.

 

[thephilosopher6]

Yes, and most Eastern Christians agree there is no repentance after death (though this isn’t dogmatized in the Orthodox Church), but they would say that God is merciful enough that he might save the originally “unsaved” even after death.

 

[pacloc]

sinners who rejected God in life could enter into a state of Theosis before the final judgment

I’ve never seen this from any Saint in the Church. From what I have read, it is clear that the will must be in line with God’s will. Only a further purification in the sense that we will continually be purified because to be united with God is a movement always towards more and never stagnant. But the brightness in which we will be rewarded depends on our state before the Great Judgment, which is mainly based on life before death. The prayers of the Church and her members for all people brings benefit though. The wicked are even given comfort by it, and the saints benefit in a greater way by being enlightened. I don’t think it is correct to say that there is repentance after death.