Purgatory

Purgatory Europe
One of the most tenacious myths of the Middle Ages is Purgatory, whither prayer is supposed to send aid to its inhabitants, the moderately sinful Christian dead. In the Middle Ages the threat of purgatorial flames was almost as frightening as the fires of Hell, despite the in-built possibility of self-advancement, of ascending the Mountain of Purgatory through penance and privation to the gates of Heaven. Although the Greek Orthodox Church eschewed the notion, Purgatory entered official Catholic dogma in 1245, and has remained there ever since. ‘Reasonable Purgatory’ has seemed to many believers a sensible stopping point before the Last Judgement.