Scripture tells us nothing of the kind. The very One who will judge us says, "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Mt 25:46).
And again, "Those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation" (Jn 5:29).
Thus no intermediate place remains at all. After He divided all those judged into two parts, placing some on the right and others on the left, He called the first sheep and the second goats.
He in no way showed that there are some who must be purified by that purifying fire.
It seems that the fire of which the Apostle speaks is the one of which the prophet David says: "Before Him is a devouring fire, and around Him a mighty tempest" (Ps 49:3).
And again, "Fire goes before Him and burns up His enemies round about" (Ps 96:3). The prophet Daniel also speaks of this fire: "A river of fire issued and came forth before Him" (Dan 7:10).
Since the saints bring with them no evil work or evil mark, this fire will reveal them still more radiant. They will be like gold tested in the furnace.
Or they will be like the stone amiant, which, they say, when placed in fire seems charred, but when taken from the fire becomes still cleaner, as though washed with water.
Such were the bodies of the holy Three Youths in the Babylonian furnace.
But sinners bring evil with them. The fire seizes this as material fit for it and immediately kindles it.
Their "work," that is, their evil disposition or activity, it will burn and destroy to the end. It will deprive them of what they brought with them, that is, of their evil burden.
Yet it will "save" them, meaning that it will preserve and keep them forever, so that they are not destroyed together with their evil.
The divine Father Chrysostom, whom we call "the mouth of Paul," as Paul is called "the mouth of Christ," also considers this interpretation of the Apostle's saying necessary.
He explains it in his commentary on the Epistle. Paul speaks through Chrysostom, as was shown by the vision of Proclus, his disciple and successor to his throne.
Chrysostom devoted a special treatise to this single saying, so that the Origenists would not cite these apostolic words in support of their way of thinking.
These words seem to suit them more than they suit you. He did this so that they would not harm the Church by introducing an end to the torment of Hades and the final restoration, apokatastasis, of sinners.
For the expression that the sinner "is saved as through fire" means that he remains tormented in fire and is not destroyed together with his evil works and evil disposition of soul.
Basil the Great also speaks about this in the Moralia, interpreting the saying of the psalm: "The voice of the Lord divides the flame of fire" (Ps 28:7).
"The fire prepared for the torment of the devil and his angels is divided by the voice of the Lord, so that there may thereafter be two powers in it."
"One power burns, and the other illumines. The tormenting and punishing power of that fire is preserved for those worthy of torment."
"The illuminating and radiant power is appointed for the radiance of those who rejoice."
"Therefore this is the voice of the Lord dividing and separating the flame of fire: that the dark part may be the fire of torment, while the non-burning part remains the light of enjoyment."
Thus, as it appears, this division and separation of the fire will take place when all pass through it equally.
The bright and shining works will appear still brighter, and those who brought them will become heirs of light and receive that eternal reward.
Those who brought evil and easily combustible works will be punished by their loss. Remaining eternally in fire, they will inherit a salvation that is worse than destruction.
Strictly speaking, this is what the expression "to be saved" means. It means that they will not themselves also be entirely destroyed by the annihilating power of the fire.
Following these Fathers, many other teachers of ours understood this saying in the same sense.
If someone has interpreted it otherwise, understanding "salvation" as deliverance from punishment and "passing through fire" as purgatory, then such a person has, if one may say so, understood this saying entirely perversely.
This is not surprising, for he is a man. Many even of the teachers appear to interpret the sayings of Scripture differently, and not all reached the exact sense in equal measure.
It is impossible that the same text, handed down in different understandings, should correspond equally to them all.
We must choose the weightiest interpretations and those more consistent with the dogmas of the Church. The remaining interpretations we must put in second place.
Therefore we shall not depart from the interpretation of the Apostle's words given above, even if Augustine, Gregory the Dialogist, or some other of our teachers gave such an unsuitable interpretation.
Such an interpretation helps the idea of a temporary, purifying fire less than it serves Origen's doctrine.
That doctrine speaks of the final restoration of souls through that fire and their release from torment. It was forbidden and anathematized by the Fifth Ecumenical Council.
It was finally rejected as a common dishonor to the Church.
THEOSIS