St. Augustine tells us that Arius was the first who dared to teach that
it was of no use to offer up prayers and sacrifices for the dead; and
this doctrine of Arius he reckoned among heresies. (Book of Heresies,
Heresy 53d.)
There are also passages in Holy Scripture from which the Fathers have
confirmed the Catholic belief on this point.
St. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, chap. iii. 11-15,
writes: "For other foundations no one can lay, but that which is laid;
which is Christ Jesus. Now, if any man build upon this foundation,
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work
shall be manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it
shall be revealed in fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of
what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built
thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work burn, he shall
suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."
The ancient Fathers, Origen in the third century, St. Ambrose and St.
Jerome in the fourth, and St. Augustine in the fifth, have interpreted
this text of St. Paul as relating to venial sins committed by
Christians which St. Paul compares to "wood, hay, stubble," and thus
with this text they confirm the Catholic belief in Purgatory, well
known and believed in their time, as it is by Catholics in the present
time.
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