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2 Maccabees 12:43–46

Sacrifice for the dead

Written by50 BCconservative cutoff
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2 Maccabees 12:43–46

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12:43And, calling an assembly, he sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem, to be offered for a sacrifice for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously about the resurrection

12:44(for if he had not hoped that those who had fallen would be resurrected, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,

12:45and because he considered that those who had fallen asleep with piety had great grace stored up for them

12:46Therefore, it is a holy and beneficial thought to pray on behalf of those who have passed away, so that they may be released from sins

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2 Timothy 1:16–18 — Paul prays for Onesiphorus

Second Maccabees praises an expiatory offering for the dead. In 2 Timothy, Paul asks the Lord to grant mercy to Onesiphorus on the last day; the inference that Onesiphorus had died is plausible but not explicit. The Church's doctrine of prayer for the dead rests on broader Scripture and tradition, not on this inference alone.

source checked116 yearsA practice already argued for in a 2nd-century BC Jewish book is still live in the apostolic generation.
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