Eastern Catholic churches teach that each person possesses an immortal soul that continues to exist after bodily death. At death, the soul undergoes a particular judgment and enters into a state of either closeness to God or separation from him. The tradition also affirms the possibility of purification after death for those who die in God's friendship but still require cleansing.

Eastern theology tends to speak of the state after death in terms of rest, anticipation, or suffering rather than using the Latin theological language of purgatory, though Eastern Catholics in communion with Rome accept the defined doctrine. The final resurrection of the body and the Last Judgment are solemnly affirmed, after which the redeemed will enjoy the beatific vision—full participation in the life of the Trinity—for eternity.