On Purgatory in the Indian Orthodox Christian Tradition.
Protestants would like us and our children to admit as having believed in Purgatory like the Roman Catholics . We don't have a tradition of Purgatory or Toll Houses . The Eastern Orthodox & Roman Catholics have a tradition of Toll Houses . To further define it, the Roman Catholics brought out a teaching called Purgatory as a temporary place where the souls of the departed stay before final judgment.
Our faith calls us not to delve on such teachings , but pray for the Faithful departed and the faith that God's love and mercy is beyond human comprehension.
" In the Funeral Service of the Syriac Orthodox Church there is a Madrosho (teaching) Hymn; with the title O'umarod Sabno. This hymn is sung from the perspective of the departed soul.
You tempted me with material things.you trapped me, like a bird is trapped.Now when I am departing, you have come and held on to my fingers. I am agitated, as if I have seen a nightmare.With the Holy Cross as my companion, I have approached this fearful harbour. Let these evil forces of the dark be driven away. With the Holy Cross as the key,Let me enter through the doors of Paradise, and praise Your great mercy."
The Armenian Funeral rites (the unabridged old versions, found in 1905 edition of Mashtots, the official Book of Rites of the Armenian Church), ask to help the departed soul pass through the demonic attacks peacefully, by the help of the accompanying good angel. This teaching can be found in the writings of many Armenian Fathers. Even the songs and the famous prayer of St Nerses the Grace-filled (that which has 24 chapters) mention this, and these songs and prayer are part of our official Book of Common Prayers (the Book of Hours, Zhamagirk).Just pay attention on the 20th chapter of the above-mentioned prayer of St Nerses:
20. Bounteous Lord, commit me to a good angel, who may deliver up my soul with sweetness, and convey it undisturbed through the malice of wicked spirits who are under the heaven.Have mercy on Your creatures and on me, a grievous sinner.
St Gregory of Tathev even brings an apocryphal story about the Holy Mother of God Mary who before her dormition or passing away tells those virgins that surrounded her what happens to the soul when it is to depart from this world. How angels come to take the soul, how it passes through the demonic attacks etc. Nerses of Lambron writes on this topic amply in his Commentary on the Story of Dormition of St John the Evangelist.Vardan of Aygek writes on this topic too, Sargis Shnorhali, Arakel of Syunik etc.
One must note that the apocriphal story of the Dormition of St John the Evangelist was part of the Armenian Bible for many centuries. And in that story there is a prayer by St John in which he asks the Lord to send the attacking demons away during his departure from this world. St John prays:
"Now, O Lord, when I have accomplished Thy stewardship with which I was entrusted, make me worthy of Thy repose, having wrought that which is perfect in Thee, which is ineffable salvation. And as I go to Thee, let the fire withdraw, let darkness be overcome, let the furnace be slackened, let Gehenna be extinguished, let the angels follow, let the demons be afraid let the princes be broken in pieces, let the powers of darkness fall, let the places on the right hand stand firm, let those on the left abide not, let the devil be muzzled, let Satan be laughed to scorn, let his madness be tamed, let his wrath be broken, let his children be trodden under foot, and let all his root he uprooted; and grant to me to accomplish the journey to Thee, not insulted, not despitefully treated, and to receive what Thou hast promised to those that live in purity, and that have loved a holy life."
It is this prayer that is explained in details by Nerses of Lambron in his above-mentioned Commentary.In a song for the departed ("Astuats anegh"), found in the Night Service of the official Book of Common Prayers and authored by St Nerses the Grace-filled, there are such words:
Let the princes of the air be shattered,Let them not be a hindrance to this soul,Give rest to our reposed in the mansions of Your Father of Light.
(Source - OCNET)
