One of the things that is so frustrating about so-called adherents to the doctrine of Sola Scripture is their cherry picking on what they base their man-made theology and their ignoring what is inconvenient to their man-made theology. I really don't understand this cognitive dissonance. The passage of Sacred Scripture between verses 11 and 16 of 1st Corinthians chapter within today's Epistle reading in the Divine Liturgy is a case in point:12 If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,13 the work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire [itself] will test the quality of each one’s work.14 If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage.15 But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.
It's obvious that this is a reference to Purgatory which is explained by articles 1030 through 1032 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:
As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.
1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin." [2nd Maccabees 12:46] From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God. The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:
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. John Chrysostom (Doctor of the Church, born at Antioch, AD 347; died at Commana in Pontus, 14 September, AD 407) goes on to explain this further in his 41st homily on 1st Corinthians:
Let us then give them aid and perform commemoration for them. For if the children of Job were purged by the sacrifice of their father, why do you doubt that when we too offer for the departed, some consolation arises to them? Since God is wont to grant the petitions of those who ask for others. And this Paul signified saying, that in a manifold Person your gift towards us bestowed by many may be acknowledged with thanksgiving on your behalf. 2 Corinthians 1:11 Let us not then be weary in giving aid to the departed, both by offering on their behalf and obtaining prayers for them: for the common Expiation of the world is even before us. Therefore with boldness do we then intreat for the whole world, and name their names with those of martyrs, of confessors, of priests. For in truth one body are we all, though some members are more glorious than others; and it is possible from every source to gather pardon for them, from our prayers, from our gifts in their behalf, from those whose names are named with theirs. Why therefore do you grieve? Why mourn, when it is in your power to gather so much pardon for the departed?
In his encyclical Spe Salvi Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI explains that the duration of time in Purgatory is not of a terrestrial nature, that is, subject to the laws of physical space and time:
...if “Purgatory” is simply purification through fire in the encounter with the Lord, Judge and Saviour, how can a third person intervene, even if he or she is particularly close to the other? When we ask such a question, we should recall that no man is an island, entire of itself. Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse. So my prayer for another is not something extraneous to that person, something external, not even after death. In the interconnectedness of Being, my gratitude to the other—my prayer for him—can play a small part in his purification. And for that there is no need to convert earthly time into God's time: in the communion of souls simple terrestrial time is superseded.
For Protestants who may not understand, everyone who goes to Purgatory after death eventually ends up in Heaven after purgation is completed. No one who goes to Purgatory after death ever goes to Hell, and no one in Hell ever escapes to go to either Purgatory or Heaven. And our prayers for those in purgatory are a spiritual act of mercy. Lastly, the doctrine of Purgatory is entirely Biblical as the discussion above demonstrates - those people who are "saved" but in an imperfect state of being marred by the effects of sin will be cleansed by fire, but in a non-terrestrial, spiritual sense where the passage of time does not have the meaning as it does in physical space and time.
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