Newest Members
DMB, Cyrillic, AzzurriFan, cousin janie, lovesupreme, Dill-Bro Baggins, SERA, Raul Urbina Moreno, JXD, Pat Chabra Trueman, liquid_onyx, Rachel, joseph r godleski, MartinZammit, humbled
4739 Registered Users
Who's Online
8 registered (Peter J, Athanasius The L, Fr. Deacon Lance, smad0142, defreitas, 3 invisible), 106 Guests and 4 Spiders online.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Latest Photos
Great and Holy Week Our Lady of Fatima SF
Blessing of Fr. Serge Keleher's tombstone. April 7, 2013
Sts. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Church
Holy Ghost Orthodox Church Phoenixville, PA
Theophany 2013
Forum Stats
4739 Members
26 Forums
31660 Topics
387380 Posts

Max Online: 2716 @ 06/07/12 04:10 PM
Page 1 of 2 1 2 >
Topic Options
#381278 - 06/09/12 03:23 AM Holy Hell (?)
Roman Interloper Offline
Member

Registered: 05/20/12
Posts: 324
Loc: New York
I was surprised today, while visiting the website of an Orthodox church, to find the following prayer:

Quote:
A PRAYER FOR THOSE IN HELL


On this final and saving festival thou art pleased to accept propitiatory prayers for those imprisoned in hell, granting us great hopes that thou wilt send down relaxation and refreshment to all held fast in bitter bondage. Hear us who humbly and piteously beseech thee: and to the souls of thy servants who have fallen asleep before us, grant rest in a place of light, a place of green pasture, a place of refreshment, whence all pain, sorrow and sighing have fled away; make their spirits to dwell where the righteous rest, and grant them peace and pardon.
For thine in very truth, O master and Maker of all, is the great mystery both of the temporary dissolution of they creatures, and of their subsequent restoration and repose unto all ages. We thank thee for thy grace in all things: for our entry into this world and our departure from it, and for the hopes that we enjoy of resurrection and eternal life pledged to us by thine own infallible promise, which shall be our portion at thy second coming. For thou art the precursor of our resurrection, the impartial and compassionate judge of all who have lived, the Master and Lord who gives us our reward.

-from the Vespers of Pentecost


???

Top
#381281 - 06/09/12 03:34 AM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
StuartK Offline
Member

Registered: 11/09/01
Posts: 6909
Loc: Falls Church, VA
Think Hades.

Top
#381282 - 06/09/12 03:42 AM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
Roman Interloper Offline
Member

Registered: 05/20/12
Posts: 324
Loc: New York
Hades? As in the mythology of antiquity?

I still don't get it, I'm afraid. Is it like Orthodox Purgatory or something?

Top
#381284 - 06/09/12 05:25 AM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
haydukovich Offline
Member

Registered: 06/16/09
Posts: 387
Loc: Las Vegas, NV USA
hades is not hell


it is not purgatory either


don't forget "Hades remains enchained"


Edited by haydukovich (06/09/12 05:28 AM)

Top
#381308 - 06/09/12 05:45 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
Roman Interloper Offline
Member

Registered: 05/20/12
Posts: 324
Loc: New York
Well, what is it?

Top
#381310 - 06/09/12 06:05 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
StuartK Offline
Member

Registered: 11/09/01
Posts: 6909
Loc: Falls Church, VA
Hades is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol, a place where the dead endure a gray, formless existence separated from their bodies and from God. Christ's descent into Hades emptied the tombs and destroyed death as a permanent state, transforming it instead into a period of sleep before the dead are reunited with their material, glorified bodies in a material, restored universe at the Parousia.

Top
#381317 - 06/09/12 09:05 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
Paul B Offline
Member

Registered: 11/11/01
Posts: 1584
Loc: PA
Non-believers have expectations that only Hades exists after death, that there is no life after death. Theologically, it was the "place" where Adam and Eve and their descendents existed before the Resurrection; thus the Resurrection Icon "The Harrowing of Hades" http://www.comeandseeicons.com/pascha/pha21.htm


I believe your quote is from the 3rd kneeling prayer of Pentecost Sunday vespers. The Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic excerpt reads as follows:

Also, on this salvific feast on which everything was totally accomplished, You deigned, therefore, to accept supplications in behalf of those being held in bondage, You promised great hopes for their release from the grievous bonds constraining them by sending down your consolation.
Hear us, your humble servants, beseeching You , and grant repose to the souls of your servants who have already departed into a place of light and a place of refreshment and peace from which all illness, sorrow, and sighing have been taken away. Commit their souls to the places of the just, and make them worthy of peace and of repose. For the dead cannot praise You, O Lord, nor do those in Hades venture to offer confession to You. But we, the living, do bless You, and we do pray and offer You supplications and sacrifices for their souls.


I am of the Catholic bias, and believe that the eastern belief in Purgatory exists; they just don't like to call it that and have some not-so-vital differences with actual Catholic Purgatory doctrine.

Fr Deacon Paul

Top
#381326 - 06/10/12 12:52 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
Ot'ets Nastoiatel' Offline
Member

Registered: 07/03/06
Posts: 294
Loc: 266 Mulberry St. NY, NY 10012
Just when I thought it was safe to log on again!

Top
#381328 - 06/10/12 01:16 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
StuartK Offline
Member

Registered: 11/09/01
Posts: 6909
Loc: Falls Church, VA
The theologia prima of both East and West is identical: the fallen require purification after death, and prayers for the dead are efficacious in that regard. Everything else is theologia second, or theoria--elaboration and speculation upon that which has been revealed. As Father Taft likes to say, nothing that diverges from or elaborates upon the deposit of faith of the undivided Church can make any claim to ecumenicity.

Top
#381752 - 06/18/12 03:15 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
danman916 Offline
Member

Registered: 11/12/07
Posts: 456
Loc: Illinois
In Latin, no distinction is made between between the biblical terms sheol/hades, gahennon, tartarus. They are all rendered in Latin as infernus (hell). That's not quite the case in the East, which tends to keep the distinctions.

Top
#381756 - 06/18/12 04:31 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: danman916]
JBenedict Offline
Member

Registered: 01/27/08
Posts: 206
Loc: New York, NY
In Latin, no distinction is made between between the biblical terms sheol/hades, gahennon, tartarus. They are all rendered in Latin as infernus (hell). That's not quite the case in the East, which tends to keep the distinctions.

That's not true. For instance Matthew 5:22 in the Vulgate: "Ego autem dico vobis: quia omnis qui irascitur fratri suo, reus erit judicio. Qui autem dixerit fratri suo, raca: reus erit concilio. Qui autem dixerit, fatue: reus erit gehennæ ignis."


Edited by JBenedict (06/18/12 04:31 PM)
Edit Reason: formatting

Top
#381785 - 06/18/12 11:59 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
Palaiologos Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 05/30/12
Posts: 11
Loc: TX
Many a times this is also in relation to the Bosom of Abraham found within reference to the Hebrew Scriptures, though it is also found in the Gospel of St. Luke.

From what I understand this is suppose to be the resting place of the holy and righteous prophets and ancestors of God. (Though since we both commemorate Joachim and Anna as saints I dont know how this works).

Top
#381820 - 06/19/12 02:06 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Palaiologos]
JBenedict Offline
Member

Registered: 01/27/08
Posts: 206
Loc: New York, NY
It was the temporary resting place of the righteous until the coming of Christ "opened the gates of Heaven."

Top
#381828 - 06/19/12 05:38 PM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: JBenedict]
Joe Smith Offline
Junior Member

Registered: 05/14/12
Posts: 15
Loc: Ohio
I'm confused about this too.
It appears purgatory, in this schema, is a good place, or a place with no purgation, but at the same time, there is the toll-house opinion.

Top
#381919 - 06/22/12 12:24 AM Re: Holy Hell (?) [Re: Roman Interloper]
Peter J Online   content
Member

Registered: 02/21/05
Posts: 808
Loc: New England
Hi Roman. smile

Originally Posted By: Roman Interloper
I was surprised today, while visiting the website of an Orthodox church, to find the following prayer:

Quote:
A PRAYER FOR THOSE IN HELL


On this final and saving festival thou art pleased to accept propitiatory prayers for those imprisoned in hell, granting us great hopes that thou wilt send down relaxation and refreshment to all held fast in bitter bondage. Hear us who humbly and piteously beseech thee: and to the souls of thy servants who have fallen asleep before us, grant rest in a place of light, a place of green pasture, a place of refreshment, whence all pain, sorrow and sighing have fled away; make their spirits to dwell where the righteous rest, and grant them peace and pardon.
For thine in very truth, O master and Maker of all, is the great mystery both of the temporary dissolution of they creatures, and of their subsequent restoration and repose unto all ages. We thank thee for thy grace in all things: for our entry into this world and our departure from it, and for the hopes that we enjoy of resurrection and eternal life pledged to us by thine own infallible promise, which shall be our portion at thy second coming. For thou art the precursor of our resurrection, the impartial and compassionate judge of all who have lived, the Master and Lord who gives us our reward.

-from the Vespers of Pentecost


???


Have you ever read C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce?

Top
Page 1 of 2 1 2 >



Moderator:  Alice, Father Deacon Ed, theophan 

The Byzantine Forum provides message boards for discussions focusing on Eastern Christianity (though discussions of other topics are welcome). The views expressed herein are those of the participants and may or may not reflect the teachings of the Byzantine Catholic or any other Church. The Byzantine Forum and the www.byzcath.org site exist to help build up the Church but are unofficial, have no connection with any Church entity, and should not be looked to as a source for official information for any Church. Contents copyright - 1996-2013. All rights reserved.