Article XXII: Of purgatory

4 Responses

  1. Toni Álvarez says:

    “However, if an icon is seen only as an aid to devotion, rather than an end of itself, most people would have no issue. Then there are relics, which can be inspiring — so long as we honor the grace revealed in a holy life, not bones themselves”

    I have to take issue with this characterization of icons. I think there is a valid view that they are much more than mere aids to devotion that is not “superstitious”.

    Icons bear witness to our Chalcedonian faith. They are sacramental in the larger sense because they depict heavenly realities and they convey these realities to us. Icons are to heaven.

  2. There is a tale that Arthur Michael Ramsey, who spent time at Nashota House after his retirement, once preached a sermon on Purgatory there.

    He was challenged on the basis that, “we don’t believe in Purgatory – it says so in te 39 Articles.”

    To which Ramsey allegedly replied, “No, no young man. We don’t believe the ROMISH doctrine of Purgatory.”

  3. Toni Álvarez says:

    *Icons are windows to heaven.

  4. Bob Chapman says:

    Romish doctrine of Purgatory versus the one promoted by, say, C. S. Lewis?