Looking for quotes regarding purgatory, to add to my collection...thanks

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I have quite a collection of quotes from early church fathers employing language that clearly illustrates that they absolutely believed in a possible state of purification for souls, prior to admittance into heaven. This is just an attempt to thoroughly exhaust my collection. 🙂 Any ECF quotes that point to the concept of purgatory would be much appreciated?

Also, I have a few quotes from eastern church fathers (like the one below) - that explicitly support the concept of purgatory and any additional quotes would also be much appreciated. Also, these eastern quotes do not have to be limited to the early church fathers of the east. Any century will suffice. 👍

Thanks in advance friends…
"St. Clement of Alexandria: “Accordingly the believer, through great discipline, divesting himself of the passions, passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, viz., to the greatest torment, taking with him the characteristic of repentance from the sins he has committed after baptism. He is tortured then still more – not yet or not quite attaining what he sees others to have acquired. Besides, he is also ashamed of his transgressions. The greatest torments, indeed, are assigned to the believer. For God’s righteousness is good, and His goodness is righteous. And though the punishments cease in the course of the completion of the expiation and purification of each one, yet those have very great and permanent grief who are found worthy of the other fold, on account of not being along with those that have been glorified through righteousness.”
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joe370 said:
I have quite a collection of quotes from early church fathers employing language that clearly illustrates that they absolutely believed in a possible state of purification for souls, prior to admittance into heaven. This is just an attempt to thoroughly exhaust my collection. 🙂 Any ECF quotes that point to the concept of purgatory would be much appreciated?

Also, I have a few quotes from eastern church fathers (like the one below) - that explicitly support the concept of purgatory and any additional quotes would also be much appreciated. Also, these eastern quotes do not have to be limited to the early church fathers of the east. Any century will suffice. 👍

Thanks in advance friends…
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Greetings Joe370,

I sure would be interested in seeing the quotes you have. Would you mind sharing them if it is at all convenient?

God Bless.
Anathama Sit
 
Anathama_Sit said:
Greetings Joe370,

I sure would be interested in seeing the quotes you have. Would you mind sharing them if it is at all convenient?

God Bless.
Anathama Sit
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Eastern/western church Fathers ranging from the 2nd century to the 6th century

Hey Anathama, how ya doing friend? Regarding the following quotes (both eastern and western fathers) - there are still two that I must officially confirm:

“Origen of Alexandria (185 to about 254 AD): If a man departs this life with lighter faults, he is condemned to fire which burns away the lighter materials, and prepares the soul for the kingdom of God, where nothing defiled may enter. For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones (I Cor., 3); but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones? Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature, but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble. It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our transgressions and then returns to us the reward of our great works.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa: “After his departure out of the body, he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice, and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa: “Now, to the pure, freedom from passion is that kindred state, and that in this freedom from passion blessedness consists, admits of no dispute. But as for those whose weaknesses have become inveterate, and to whom no purgation of their defilement has been applied, no mystic water, no invocation of the Divine power, no amendment by repentance, it is absolutely necessary that they should come to be in something proper to their case,—just as the furnace is the proper thing for gold alloyed with dross,—in order that, the vice which has been mixed up in them being melted away after long succeeding ages, their nature may be restored pure again to God. Since, then, there is a cleansing virtue in fire and water, they who by the mystic water have washed away the defilement of their sin have no further need of the other form of purification, while they who have not been admitted to that form of purgation must needs be purified by fire.”

St. Clement of Alexandria: “Accordingly the believer, through great discipline, divesting himself of the passions, passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, to the greatest torment, taking with him the characteristic of repentance from the sins he has committed after baptism. He is tortured then still more – not yet or not quite attaining what he sees others to have acquired. Besides, he is also ashamed of his transgressions. The greatest torments, indeed, are assigned to the believer. For God’s righteousness is good, and His goodness is righteous. And though the punishments cease in the course of the completion of the expiation and purification of each one, yet those have very great and permanent grief who are found worthy of the other fold, on account of not being along with those that have been glorified through righteousness.”

Saint Basil the Great, Patriarch of Eastern Monasticism (329 to 379 AD): “Christ our God…(who) on this all-perfect and saving Feast, art graciously pleased to accept propitiatory prayers for those who are imprisoned in hades, promising unto us who are held in bondage great hope of release from the vilenes that doth hinder us and did hinder them … send down Thy consolation… and establish their souls in the mansions of the Just; and graciously vouchsafe unto them peace and pardon; for not the dead shall praise thee, O Lord, neither shall they who are in Hell make bold to offer unto thee confession. But we who are living will bless thee, and will pray, and offer unto thee propitiatory prayers and sacrifices for their souls.”

St. Basil the Great (329 to 379 AD): “that the purgatorial fire may entirely feed on and devour it… It does not threaten utter ruin altogether, but it means cleansing according to the opinion of the Apostle Paul: ‘But he himself shall be saved yet as so through fire’” 1 Corinthians 3:15

St. Basil the Great (329 to 379 AD): "I consider that the active athletes of God, who have fought bravely with invisible enemies during all their life, when arrived at the end of life, shall be examined by the prince of the world, so that if they may be found to have retained either wounds after the contest, or any stains or relics of sin, they should be detained; but if they may be found without wounds and slains, as victorious and free, they would be translated by Christ to rest.
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St. Epiphanius of Salamis (315 to 403 AD): “But the prayers that are offered up for the dead are useful to them…I say that the Church, which has received that rite handed down to it from our ancestors, of necessity performs it.”

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St. John Chrysostom (349–407: “Weep for those who die in their wealth and who with all their wealth prepared no consolation for their own souls, who had the power to wash away their sins and did not will to do it. Let us weep for them, let us assist them to the extant of our ability, let us think of some assistance for them, small as it may be, yet let us somehow assist them. But how, and in what way? By praying for them and by entreating others to pray for them, by constantly giving alms to the poor on their behalf. Not in vain was it decreed by the apostles that in the awesome mysteries remembrance should be made of the departed. They knew that here there was much gain for them, much benefit. when the entire people stands with hands uplifted, a priestly assembly, and that awesome sacrificial Victim is laid out, how, when we are calling upon God, should we not succeed in their defense? But this is done for those who have departed in the faith, while even the catechumens are not reckoned as worthy of this consolation, but are deprived of every means of assistance except one. And what is that? We may give alms to the poor on their behalf.”

St. John Chrysostom: “Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice (Job 1:5), why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.”

St. Ephrem (306 to 373 AD): “Instead of shedding useless tears over the grave, let them flow at prayers in church, for in these there is help and comfort for the dead as well as for the living.” And … “If the Jewish priests were able by their sacrifices to help those fallen in battle [2 Maccabees 12:38-45 ] , how much more will the priests of the Son of God by their Holy Sacrifice and prayers efface the sins of the departed!”

St. Ephrem:: “We remember those that are deceased…Then we pray for our fathers and bishops, and in general for all among us who are departed this life, believing that this will be the greatest relief to them, for whom is offered up on the holy and tremendous victim which lies on the altar.”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (313 – 386): “Then we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition; next, we make mention also of the holy fathers and bishops who have already fallen asleep, and, to put it simply, of all among us who have already fallen asleep, for we believe that it will be of very great benefit to the souls of those for whom the petition is carried up, while this holy and most solemn sacrifice is laid out.”

Tertullian (200 AD): “All souls, therefore; are shut up within Hade…Therefore, even for this cause it is most fitting that the soul, without at all waiting for the flesh, should be punished for what it has done without the partnership of the flesh. So, on the same principle, in return for the pious and kindly thoughts in which it shared not the help of the flesh, shall it without the flesh receive its consolation. In short, inasmuch as we understand ‘the prison’ pointed out in the Gospel to be Hades, and as we also interpret ‘the uttermost farthing’ to mean the very smallest offence which has to be recompensed there before the resurrection, no one will hesitate to believe that the soul undergoes in Hades some compensatory discipline, without prejudice to the full process of the resurrection, when the recompense will be administered through the flesh besides.” Tertullian, A Treatise on the Soul, 58 (A.D. 210).

Cyprian (200 to 258 AD): 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. (Letters 51[55]:20 [A.D. 253]).

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Lactantius Lactantius the Divine Institutes (Christian apologist of the 4th century): “The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment: which the poets transferred to the vulture of Tityus. Thus, without any wasting of bodies, which regain their substance, it will only burn and affect them with a sense of pain. But when He shall have judged the righteous, He will also try them with fire. Then they whose sins shall exceed either in weight or in number, shall be scorched by the fire and burnt: but they whom full justice and maturity of virtue has imbued will not perceive that fire; for they have something of God in themselves which repels and rejects the violence of the flame.”

Cyril of Jerusalem (315 to 386 AD): “Then we make mention also of those who have already fallen asleep: first, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, that through their prayers and supplications God would receive our petition, next, we make mention also of the holy fathers and bishops who have already fallen asleep, and, to put it simply, of all among us who have already fallen asleep. For we believe that it will be of very great benefit to the souls of those for whom the petition is carried up, while this holy and most solemn sacrifice is laid out”

St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430AD): “Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment”

St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430AD): “If the baptized person fulfills the obligations demanded of a Christian, he does well. If he does not–provided he keeps the faith, without which he would perish forever–no matter in what sin or impurity remains, he will be saved, as it were, by fire; as one who has built on the foundation, which is Christ, not gold, silver, and precious stones, but wood, hay straw, that is, not just and chasted works but wicked and unchaste works.”

St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430AD): That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire (Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Charity l8:69 [A.D. 421]).

St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430AD): "…As also, after the resurrection, there will be some of the dead to whom, after they have endured the pains proper to the spirits of the dead, mercy shall be accorded, and acquittal from the punishment of the eternal fire. For were there not some whose sins, though not remitted in this life, shall be remitted in that which is to come, it could not be truly said, “They shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in that which is to come.’ But when the Judge of quick and dead has said, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,’ and to those on the other side, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels,’ and ‘These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life,’ it were excessively presumptuous to say that the punishment of any of those whom God has said shall go away into eternal punishment shall not be eternal, and so bring either despair or doubt upon the corresponding promise of life eternal.”

continued…
 
St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430AD): “For our part, we recognize that even in this life some punishments are purgatorial,–not, indeed, to those whose life is none the better, but rather the worse for them, but to those who are constrained by them to amend their life. All other punishments, whether temporal or eternal, inflicted as they are on every one by divine providence, are sent either on account of past sins, or of sins presently allowed in the life, or to exercise and reveal a man’s graces. They may be inflicted by the instrumentality of bad men and angels as well as of the good. For even if any one suffers some hurt through another’s wickedness or mistake, the man indeed sins whose ignorance or injustice does the harm; but God, who by His just though hidden judgment permits it to be done, sins not. But temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But of those who suffer temporary punishments after death, all are not doomed to those everlasting pains which are to follow that judgment; for to some, as we have already said, what is not remitted in this world is remitted in the next, that is, they are not punished with the eternal punishment of the world to come.”

St. Caesarius of Arles (470-543AD): “If we neither return thanks to God in tribulation, nor redeem sins with good works, we shall stay in the Purgatorial fire until the above-named small sins be consumed like wood, hay and stubble … But some one says: I don’t mind how long I stay there if at length I shall arrive at eternal life. Let no one say this dearest brethren, because that Purgatory fire shall be severer than any punishment that can be either thought of, or seen, or felt in this world. How can anyone know whether he is about to pass through that fire for days and months or perhaps even for years?”

St. John I (347-407 AD): “The Apostles knew full well that it works much good for the departed: for whenever all the people stand with hands raised in prayer, together with the whole assembly of the priests, and the tremendous Victim lies on the altar, should we not by our petitions in their behalf move the heart of God?”

St. John I: “You ought to hasten to his aid, not by tears, but by prayers, alms, and offerings. For not without reason has this been introduced, not in vain do we remember the dead at the sacred mysteries, approach the altar for them, and implore the Lamb Which is present, and Which takes away the sins of the world, but in order that the dead may receive some alleviation … Therefore we pray with confidence for the whole world, and remember the dead together with the martyrs and the confessors and priests. For we all constitute but one body, although one member is superior to another, and so it is possible that by prayer and sacrifice we may obtain full forgiveness for those whose names we mention.”

St. Jerome (347 - 419 AD): “…for every Mass devoutly celebrated, many souls leave Purgatory and fly to Heaven.”

St. Cyril of Alexandria, Patriarch of Alexandria: “All the tortures that one can conceive of in this world are refreshing compared with the least pain of Purgatory.”

Gregory the Great (590-604 AD): “Each one will be presented to the Judge exactly as he was when he departed this life. Yet, there must be a cleansing fire before judgment, because of some minor faults that may remain to be purged away. Does not Christ, the Truth, say that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit he shall not be forgiven ‘either in this world or in the world to come’(Mt. 12:32)? From this statement we learn that some sins can be forgiven in this world and some in the world to come. For, if forgiveness is refused for a particular sin, we conclude logically that it is granted for others. This must apply, as I said, to slight transgressions.”

St. Epiphanius of Salamis (315 to 403 AD): “Useful too is the prayer fashioned on their behalf, even if it does not force back the whole of guilty charges laid to them. And it is useful also, because in this world we often stumble either voluntarily or involuntarily, and thus it is a reminder to do better.”
 
Greetings Joe370,

My appreciation for you taking the time to share those quotes with me. I shall copy them and save them to my computer. Thanks so much for being prompt with your response.

God Bless you.
Anathama Sit
 
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