Legends Of The Respite From Torture

Until the sixth century the question whether the sufferings of the sinners in hell were to be regarded as eternal or not was still debated by the Fathers of the Church. Indeed some doctors, mainly of the Eastern Church, favoured temporality. ⁵⁴⁵ Western opinion prevailed, however, and by the Council of Constantinople the doctrine of everlasting punishment was definitely established as part of the Catholic dogma. It is, then, all the more strange to find, in the eleventh century, legends popular in Western Christendom treating mainly of a respite from, or mitigation of, the sufferings of the damned. ⁵⁴⁶ The myth first appeared in the vision of St. Paul. But, as was pointed out in the discussion of that legend, the primitive Greek version spoke of a yearly respite, whereas in the Latin versions, dating from the twelfth century, the respite is weekly. ⁵⁴⁷ The difference is significant, as explaining the genesis of the later forms of the legend from Moslem models; for, whilst the doctrine of a weekly respite lacks foundation in Christian tradition, and particularly in that of the West, it was indeed fully justified in the dogma of Islam.