Purgatory is a space of purification before accessing Paradise.
You have to go to Latin to be able to find the etymological origin of the term purgatory that we are now going to analyze. It comes from the Latin word purgatorium , which can be translated as "that purifies" and which derives, in turn, from the verb purgare , which is equivalent to "cleanse" or "purify."
That term, in our language, became purgatory , whose most common use is in the field of religion .
What is purgatory
In Catholicism, purgatory is the symbolic space that houses people who died with some sin and who must be purified before being able to access Paradise . It is said that those souls that carry some minor sin that has not yet been forgiven or some serious sin that has not yet had its corresponding satisfaction through penance remain in purgatory.
Purgatory can be understood, therefore, as a temporary state that a person goes through after death while atoning for their sins. It is important to highlight that purgatory is never eternal: the doctrine indicates that all souls, in the long run, manage to access Heaven . The length of stay may depend, among other things, on people's prayers in memory of the deceased and possible indulgences.
The Catholic Church accepts the existence of purgatory.
Different views
It is possible to link purgatory with hell: in both cases, the soul is far from God . However, whoever is destined for hell remains there for all eternity, while, as we already mentioned, purgatory is transitory. The purpose of purgatory is for the soul to be purified and prepared to ascend to Heaven .
It must be said that while the Catholic or Coptic Church does recognize and accept the existence of purgatory, the Orthodox Church does not. However, this does not prevent the religious of the latter from carrying out prayers with the clear objective of ensuring that their deceased receive the love and mercy of God for the sins they may have committed in life.
Purgatory and art
Purgatory, throughout history, has aroused the interest of many authors. A good example of this is Dante Alighieri and he turned it into one of the parts of his most well-known and important work: "The Divine Comedy" .
Within the cinematographic field it must be said that there is a film whose title is precisely "Purgatory" . It was released in 2014 and is a thriller directed by the Spanish Pau Teixidor . Oona Chaplin and Sergi Méndez are some of the actors who lead the cast of the film that tells the story of a girl who finds herself in the need to take care of her neighbor's son. The complicated part of the plot begins when not only does the mother not come to pick up the little boy, but he also begins to say that someone else lives in the house, another child.
Purgatory, on the other hand, can be used as an adjective in the same sense as purgative : an element or substance that receives this adjective is one that allows an organism, a system, etc. to be purified.