Love is almighty. Among others, it has the power to ease the fate of the reposed sinners.
The Orthodox Church testifies this all the time bringing the oblation of prayer and alms for the reposed ones. Very rich in spiritual wisdom, the Church knows that the prayers and alms brought in the name of the reposed by the alive help the reposed in the afterlife.
Before her repose, Saint Anastasia the abbess (commemorated on April 12th) ordered to the community of nuns under her rule to lay the table for the poor for forty days after her death
The community fulfilled the order only for ten days then they stopped. The Saint appeared from the other world before the nuns accompanied by two angels and told them: `Why did you disobey my order? Know that for forty days after the repose of the soul the mercy of God must be invoked for him and this is done only by means of giving alms and by the prayers said by the priest at the Bloodless Sacrifice.
If the man who died was a sinner he receives these oblations of alms and prayers for the absolution of his sins from God and if he had not been a sinner then through them God sends His help to the alive one who brings the oblation.
Of course the alms and prayers which are taken into account here are related to the love of the alive for their reposed. The alms and prayers of the alive who did not forget their reposed are of great help for them indeed.
Excerpt from The Prologues from Ohrid– Saint Nicholas Velimirovich, Egumeniţa Publishing.
