The Prayer of Love

Yesterday’s gospel reading, the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, poses, I think, an interesting question. As the story centered on the forgiveness of God and how we, in turn, should forgive our neighbors I think the question can be posed: just how forgiving is God? Or, in other words, is there a moment when it is too late?  When the master in the parable, for instance, discovers how unmerciful the servant had been to his fellow servant he throws him to the torturers until he should pay back all he owed. It is this “until” which is in question. That is, when the debt is finally paid back – then what?

A Roman Catholic reading of this parable asks the question: What prison is there in heaven which would allow one time to pay back their debt? The logical response would be purgatory. The topic of purgatory,when questioned from a Protestant perspective, is connected with the practice of praying for the dead which, while we don’t believe in purgatory in the East, we certainly pray for our deceased in the Orthodox tradition. (Note: I’m not sure whether praying for the dead is completely neglected in the Protestant tradition or not.)

Fr. Michael Pomazansky writes in his Dogmatic Theology:

“In praying for the dead, the Church intercedes for the just as for the living, not in its own name, but in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:13-14), and by the power of His Sacrifice on the Cross, which was offered for the deliverance of all. These fervent prayers help the seeds of new life which our departed ones have taken with them – if these seeds have been unable to open up sufficiently here on earth – to gradually open up and develop under the influence of prayers and with the mercy of God….Similarly, powerless would be prayers for the dead who have died in impiety and without repentance, who have quenched in themselves the Spirit of Christ (1 Thes. 5:19). It is precisely concerning such sinners that one must remember the words of the Savior in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: that there is no deliverance for them from the deepest parts of hell, and no transference for them into the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:26). And, indeed, such people usually do not leave behind them on earth people who might pray sincerely for them to God; likewise, they have not acquired for themselves friends in heaven among the saints….”

In our prayers for the dead in the Orthodox tradition there always remains hope in salvation. Though it is not specifically defined as a place of purgatory, a debt that needs to be paid or whatever,  our prayer is nothing more than our expression of our love for one another which doesn’t cease with the passing away of our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters. Instead, just as we remembered them in our prayers when they were with us and when they were ill and suffering, so too do we continue praying for them (loving them) when they pass away, praying that God might “grant them rest where the light of Thy face watcheth over them”.

Fr. Michael continues:

“Of course, on the earth it is not known to what lot each has been subjected after his death. But the prayer of love can never be profitless. If our dead ones who are dear to us have been vouchsafed the Kingdom of Heaven, they reply to prayer for them with an answering prayer. And if our prayers are powerless to help them, in any case they are not harmful to us, according to the word of the Psalmist: “My prayer shall return to my bosom” (Ps. 34:16), and according to the word of the Savior: “Let your peace return to you” (Matt:10:13).