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As an Orthodox Christian, I do not specifically believe in the Purgatory, but our theology is not that far from the Catholic concept of this stage of the life of a soul. We also believe that there is a "third" place in which the soul is purified before ascending to heaven. We do not believe in "real" fire of the Purgatory, etc.

Just a question to clarify for me. As an Orthodox Christian, you are not REQUIRED to formulate Purgatory as a dogmatic teaching, but you can CHOOSE to believe it, correct? I am not sure on the levels of teaching that exist within Orthodoxy, but there is nothing that states one CANNOT believe in Purgatory, correct? Am I correct to say that the Orthodox do not have a rule that states that any Latin-only doctrine cannot be true?!

We don't believe in a "real" fire, but we do believe that "fire" is a form of suffering that IS real. How our souls will suffer during this purification! Better to take advantage of the time God gives us in this life!

Regards

[for clarification] As an Orthodox Christian, you are not REQUIRED to formulate Purgatory as a dogmatic teaching, but you can CHOOSE to believe it...there is nothing [in Eastern Orthodoxy] that states one CANNOT believe in Purgatory, correct?

I am pinging my Orthodox brethren as a "quality control" check, and Quester because I think he will better understand on what level our communities agree and why we also disagree.

To answer your question I can only say that there is no "regulation" as to what you can believe; but we can say that such and such a belief is Orthodox or not by going back to the Apostolic teachings, the Scripture and the Councils (i.e. the Holy Tradition), the life of the Church.

Our "litmus test" of orthodoxy is to verify that what we believe was also believed by the primitive Church. The Faith was once delivered in its totality and cannot be re-invented, added to or subtracted from. We can only re-formulate that which was believed "everywhere and always."

Thus, we are free to formulate our own theologoumena (religious opinions), but unless they are backed by Tradition, they are not considered Orthodox.

This is where our mindsets, our phronemas, diverge, jo. The latin Church believes in the "deposit of Faith" treating faith as a "seed" from which new things can grow that were not there when the Apostles, or the Church Fathers walked the earth. We do not see that any aspect fo the Faith known today was hidden from the knowledge of the Fathers and the Apostles, or that they didn't know it because they weren't around when the deposit-seed poduced new "leaves."

So, when in doubt, we always go back. Thus, if Prugatory wa sunknown to the Fathers, it would not be the doctrine to adhere to.