Narration of St. Silouan the Athonite

Today it may be like Easter for the deceased, especially the most difficult of them ... as the whole Church, old and new calendar, prays for them.

Narration of St. Silouan

Knowing how much the Lord loves His people, especially the dead, I shed tears for them every night. My heart ached, that people are deprived of such a merciful God.

And once I said to the spiritual father:"I feel sorry for those who suffer in hell and I cry every night for them and my soul is so strained that I feel sorry even for the demons. And the spiritual father told me that such a prayer comes from the Grace of God.

An ascetic asked me: "Are you weeping about your sins?" I tell him probably a little, but I weep a lot for the dead.

Then he says to me: "Cry for yourself, as much as the Lord will have mercy on others." So said the abbot Makarios.

I obeyed and started doing as he told me, I stopped crying for the dead, but then the tears stopped for me too. I talked about this with another ascetic who had the gift of tears.

He loved to think of how the Lord, the King of Glory, suffered so much for us and shed so many tears every day. I asked this ascetic: "Would it be good for me to pray for the dead?" He sighed and said to me: "If it were possible, I would take everyone out of hell, and only then would my soul rest and rejoice." And at the same time he made a gesture as if he were picking ears of corn to reap, and tears were running from his eyes. Since then I stopped holding back the tears in my prayers for the dead and my tears came back and I lament a lot praying for them."