THE CHURCH OF THE EAST AND THE CHURCH OF THE WEST IN UNION WITH THE SUCCESSOR OF SAINT PETER, THE POPE, BREATHES WITH TWO LUNGS WHEREAS THE EASTERN ORTHODOX ONLY BREATH WITH ONE LUNG—THAT EXPLAINS THEIR BEING OUT OF FULL BREATH…

For the Church of the East and West in full communion with the Pope, it's never either/or but rather, both/and!

The fullness of the Church of the East and West resides in the Catholic Church headed by the Supreme Pontiff, the Pope. While the west describes certain dogmas in a more linear way, the east, in union with the pope, uses more mystical terms, less rigid or juridical than the west. But as with most things within true Catholicism, it isn’t either/or but, rather, both/and.

When it comes to purgatory, this is all the more important!

Below in blue is from a schismatic priest of the Eastern Church in Schism with Rome, commonly known as Eastern Orthodox and thus more rigid about the either/or rather than the both/and. For them it’s either the east or the highway. But not so for the Church of the East in union with the Successor of Saint Peter:

 Why the East Never Defined Purgatory

In the medieval West, theology increasingly described salvation in legal categories: guilt, satisfaction, punishment, merit. Think of the influence of Anselm of Canterbury and the scholastic tradition. Within that framework, Purgatory became dogmatically defined, a necessary post-mortem satisfaction of remaining penalties.

But the Orthodox East began somewhere else.

The Fathers, like Gregory of Nyssa and Isaac the Syrian, speak of salvation not as legal balancing, but as healing. Illumination. Deification, theosis, which means participation in the divine life (cf. 2 Peter 1:4).

The question was never:

“How much punishment remains?”

The question was:

“How healed is the soul?”

Orthodoxy absolutely affirms purification after death. We pray for the departed at every Divine Liturgy. Love does not cease at the grave.

But the East resisted defining the mechanics. At councils like Council of Florence and Council of Trent, the Latin Church articulated Purgatory in precise terms. The Orthodox Church responded with reverent restraint.

Why?

Because Scripture gives us images: fire, judgment, glory, but not diagrams.

And in our tradition, the “fire” is not a created torture chamber. It is the unmediated presence of God Himself. The same divine love is joy to the purified and torment to the hardened.

The difference is not location.

It is disposition.

This matters pastorally.

Many Christians today live with anxiety-driven spirituality. We imagine salvation as a transaction. A ledger. A cosmic courtroom.

But Orthodoxy proclaims something deeper: salvation is synergy, our cooperation with grace, and lifelong transformation into Christ. The focus is not mapping the afterlife. It is healing the heart now.

So the East never defined Purgatory, not because it denied purification, but because it refused to reduce salvation to penalty satisfaction.

The Church invites us to repentance, Eucharistic life, prayer for the departed, and trust in the mercy of God.

Not speculation.

Not fear.

But preparation.

The fire we will meet is Love.

The question is: are we learning to receive it?

But, the Church of the East in full communion with the Church of the West under the Supreme Pastor, the pope, holds basically what the Schismatic East holds but is not adverse to how the west has formulated the dogma of purgatory. They know that it isn’t either/or, but rather, both/and although the Eastern Church would prefer the east’s tradition as it regards purgatory:

This an an AI summary highlighted in papal gold:

Yes, the Eastern Catholic Churches (Eastern rites in union with the Pope) believe in the doctrine of purification after death

—often termed purgatory—but generally describe it differently than the Latin (Western) Church. While they affirm the dogma that souls needing purification can be helped by prayer, they do not typically use the term "Purgatory" nor do they share the medieval Latin concepts of "fire" or specific "temporal punishments". 

Key Aspects of Eastern Catholic Belief on Purgatory:

• Core Dogma: They adhere to the same essential dogma as Rome: there is a state of purification for souls on their way to heaven, and prayers for the dead are efficacious.
• Difference in Terminology: Eastern Catholics, such as the Byzantine Church, often avoid the term "purgatory" because it holds specific Western medieval baggage.
• Theological Approach: Instead of a "place" of punishment, the East often views this state as a final journey, growth, or a process of, as some describe it, a "purifying ascent to the Father".
• Unity: As part of the Catholic Church, they fully accept the dogmatic teaching that those who die in God's grace but are not perfectly purified undergo purification.
• Prayers for the Dead: Eastern Catholics routinely celebrate Divine Liturgies for the dead and pray for their purification. 

In essence, Eastern Catholics hold the same belief as the Roman Catholic Church regarding the necessity of post-death purification, but they express and conceptualize it through their own unique Eastern theological tradition.