Rev 5:8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Rev 8:3-4 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand.
"which are the prayers OF the saints." Not TO the saints.
And in both these cases, the saints are not defined as RCC holy men, but rather all Christian faithfull.
The early Christians refered to believers as...saints.
It was the RCC that twisted the term into special holy men.
There is NO scripture where a Biblical personality ever prayed to a dead Holy man. Jesus told us to pray to the Father: God, not to somebody's uncle or sister.
As for purgatory. Jesus never spoke of it. He spoke of judgement, Heaven and Hell.
Why? because it doesn't EXIST.
Why would God NOT tell us in His Word about something as profound as purgatory?
Answer: it does NOT exist!
Only the RCC has the gall to twist scripture away from its original intent and create the false sanctuary: purgatory.
How many millions will burn in hell because of the Pope's LIE.
And thats what purgatory is: A lie, A false hope. A fund raiser.
WRT Purgatory, Jesus used the Septuagint version of OT Scripture and quoted from it extensively (portions of it were later rejected by Protestants however.) The Book of Maccabees in the Septuagint specifically mentions prayers for the dead. So does St. Paul. You don't need to pray for the dead if they are already in heaven. They have to be somewhere . . . therefore Purgatory. As C.S. Lewis said (the compromise view), if you get out, you can call it Purgatory. If you don't, you can call it Hell.