Father Ephrem was monk priest for about 60 years and abbot for more than 50 years. He was a disciple of the pious Joseph the Hesychast from the Holy Mountain and lived in obedience towards him for 12 years till the death of elder Joseph in 1959. The testimony from below is an excerpt from an interview given by elder Ephrem in 2014.
`When you experience hell here and you capitalize this condition according to the spiritual criteria then when you die you will not be judged anymore but will go straight into the arms of Christ. But if you don’t capitalize this hell according to the spiritual criteria, then you will be tormented in the afterlife as well.`
`I wanted to tell you something about heaven. Before I turned 80 y.o I visited heaven many times. Now I do it as well but the age says its word. Once Christ took me by the hand and said: Here you built a church, here you listened the confession of that soul and he found his salvation, here you comforted and here you gave advice`…telling me everything I had done and transmitting me joy while He was speaking. Such a great joy that I said: My beloved Christ I cannot bear it anymore. I cannot bear it. I shall explode. Bring me back. And I returned in my cell.`
`On another time while being in heaven I saw a wonderful young man. He had beside him a horse with a nice tail. I was jealous. I wanted to have that horse myself. He calls me and says: Go to the army and tell them that their back is unguarded and the rebels will come to them(the devils). I went and told them. Then I returned to tell him that I had done what he had told me. He embraced me, kissed me and mounted his horse smiling. Then he left.`
`Human mind cannot imagine how i twill be the beautiful heaven. Everything is light! Everything is fragrant! Indescribable joy! Bliss! Nothing will be obsolete. Christ wants all the things be new in His Kingdom. Nothing incomplete. Everything perfect. My mother died when she was 95 y.o and I see her in heaven as being 30.
Source: ortodoxia.rol.ro
