https://reasonstobechristian.com/f/do-the-orthodox-deny-purgatory-mark-of-ephesus-at-florence In the 15th Century, just as She had done in the 13th with Lyons II, with great expectations, the Catholic Church convened the second of Her Re-Union Councils with the Orthodox, the Council of Ferrara-Florence. Pope Pius IX mentions Florence in passing in Rerum Orientalium: "Such sacred assemblies, convoked for the purpose of discussing Oriental affairs, were held one after another, as when at Bari, at the grave of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, Anselm, Doctor of Aosta and Archbishop of Canterbury, moved the minds and hearts of all by his learning and the wonderful sanctity of his life; or again as at Lyons, to which those two luminaries of the Church, the angelic Doctor St. Thomas, and the seraphic St. Bonaventure, were summoned by Gregory X, and how the one died on the journey and the other in the midst of the great labors of the Council; or as at Ferrara and Florence, when the palm must certainly be awarded to those ornaments of the Christian East, soon to become Cardinals of the Roman Church, Bessarion of Nice, and Isidore of Kieff; and when the truth of Catholic dogma, logically and methodically stated, and made to shine forth anew by the charity of Christ, seemed to pave the way for the reconciliation of Oriental Christians with the Supreme Pastor." During this Council of Florence, Mark of Ephesus made some misguided attacks on Purgatory: “if souls have departed this life in faith and love, while nevertheless carrying away with themselves certain faults, whether small ones over which they have not repented at all, or great ones for which — even though they have repented over them — they did not undertake to show fruits of repentance: such souls, we believe, must be cleansed from this kind of sins, but not by means of some purgatorial fire or a definite punishment in some place (for this, as we have aid, has not at all been handed down to us). But some must be cleansed in the very departure from the body, thanks only to fear, as St. Gregory the Dialogist literally shows; while others must be cleansed after the departure from the body, either while remaining in the same earthly place, before they come to worship God and are honored with the lot of the blessed, or — if their sins were more serious and bind them for a longer duration — they are kept in Hades, but not in order to remain forever in fire and torment, but as it were in prison and confinement under guard.” In response to Mark, we can make 3 points: (1) First, the very Pope cited, Pope St. Gregory the Great, or Dialogist, in his very Dialogues, clearly teaches the Doctrine of Purgatory: In Book 4, Chapter 39 of his Dialogues, the Saintly Pope directly affirms: “yet we must believe that before the day of judgment there is a Purgatory fire for certain small sins: because our Saviour saith, that he which speaketh blasphemy against the holy Ghost, that it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.66 Out of which sentence we learn, that some sins are forgiven in this world, and some other may be pardoned in the next: for that which is denied concerning one sin, is consequently understood to be granted touching some other. But yet this, as I said, we have not to believe but only concerning little and very small sins, as, for example, daily idle talk, immoderate laughter, negligence in the care of our family (which kind of offences scarce can they avoid, that know in what sort sin is to be shunned), ignorant errors in matters of no great weight: all which sins be punished after death, if men procured not pardon and remission for them in their lifetime: for when St. Paul saith, that Christ is the foundation: and by and by addeth: And if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: the work of every one, of what kind it is, the fire shall try. If any man's work abide which he built thereupon, he shall receive reward; if any mans work burn, he shall suffer detriment, but himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.67 (2) A statement of St. Robert Bellarmine, about the Greek Church and Filioque, applies also on Purgatory: “Fourteenth Blessed Pope Gregory produced a creed that reads as follows, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, neither generated nor ungenerated, but eternal proceeding from the Father and Son,” and elsewhere, “The Spirit proceeds from the Father and Son.” It is a wonder why the Greeks allow Gregory to be in their calendar and honor him as a saint, since they execrate his opinion as a heresy.” If Purgatory was allegedly a heresy, why are there so many Saints who teach it, and why did no one protest about it between the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great, and Mark of Ephesus? And long before the time of Pope St. Gregory, the teaching of Purgatory, based on Scriptural texts, is found in other Church Fathers. Witness St. Cyprian: “It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory: it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord.” St. Gregory the Great referred to 1 Cor 3:13-15, where St. Paul speaks of some being saved through fire. St. Cyprian references Mat 5, where Our Lord speaks of a certain spiritual Prison which one cannot get out of without paying the last penny. But Heaven is no Prison, and no one gets out of the Hell of the damned, and therefore this Prison must be a Temporal Prison, which Holy Mother Church aptly names Purgatory. That is how St. Cyprian interprets it, contrasting the progressive purging through many ages of lesser Christians with the immediate glorification of martyred Saints, and that is what the Latin Church, under the guidance of the Church of Rome, upheld at the Council of Florence. “25Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” (Mat 5:25-26).
A tragedy that Two Churches who both pray for the departed remained separate owing to this trifle: The Scripture teaches us clearly that it is good and holy to pray for the departed in 2 Macc 12, and Purgatory logically follows from this. First, the Scripture: “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” (2 Macc 12:46) Second, the argument. St. Thomas Aquinas, with characteristic brilliance, makes it thus: “On the contrary, It is said (2 Maccabees 12:46): "It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." Now there is no need to pray for the dead who are in heaven, for they are in no need; nor again for those who are in hell, because they cannot be loosed from sins. Therefore after this life, there are some not yet loosed from sins, who can be loosed therefrom; and the like have charity, without which sins cannot be loosed, for "charity covereth all sins" [Proverbs 10:12]. Hence they will not be consigned to everlasting death, since "he that liveth and believeth in Me, shall not die for ever" [John 11:26]: nor will they obtain glory without being cleansed, because nothing unclean shall obtain it, as stated in the last chapter of the Apocalypse (verse 14). Therefore some kind of cleansing remains after this life. Further, Gregory of Nyssa [De iis qui in fide dormiunt] says: "If one who loves and believes in Christ," has failed to wash away his sins in this life, "he is set free after death by the fire of Purgatory." Therefore there remains some kind of cleansing after this life.” We may state the argument from Prayers for the Departed, which both Churches admit, thus: Major: Prayers for the Departed loose either the sins of (1) the saved in glory, (2) the damned in hell, (3) imperfect souls in an intermediate state Minor: But (1) the saved in glory have no sins which need to be loosed anymore, and (2) the damned cannot have their sins loosed anymore. Conclusion: It clearly follows, that there exists a third intermediate state, where sins can still be loosed, and this is aptly called Purgatory. Prayers for the faithful departed, which Sacred Scripture and all Liturgical Tradition clearly evinces, thus prove the existence of Purgatory. St. Irenaeus warns those inclined to create schisms over trifling matters: “He shall also judge those who give rise to schisms, who are destitute of the love of God, and who look to their own special advantage rather than to the unity of the Church; and who for trifling reasons, or any kind of reason which occurs to them, cut in pieces and divide the great and glorious body of Christ, and so far as in them lies, [positively] destroy it — men who prate of peace while they give rise to war, and do in truth strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel. Matthew 23:24 For no reformation of so great importance can be effected by them, as will compensate for the mischief arising from their schism.” May our Orthodox Brethren, perhaps at a future Re-Union Council in this 21st Century, quickly return home to Rome, and to an admirable confession of the holy dogma of Purgatory, where souls are “saved, yet so as by fire.” (1 Cor 3:15).
