Many times at his vigils the starets prayed for father George, the priest from his native village, who had baptized him.
This one was a holy man who was living in chastity. He gave many alms and took the demons out of people. He served the Holy Liturgy every day and mentioned thousands of names and afterwards he went to tombs and read trisagions for the reposed. He had put into his mind as simple as he was to take all the sinners out of hell. Thus father George appeared to the starets and told him amazed:
`Until now I had thought that the reposed find salvation only with the liturgies, the requiems and trisagions. But now I saw they find salvation as well with your prayers, the prayers of the hermits take souls out of hell.[1]
That is why the starets told us the mercy of God is great and not only with the Holy Liturgy but also with the prayer you can take a soul out of hell.
`Do you know what the people from hell say ?`
`What do they say, geronda?`
`Oh, if there were a priest from our folk to remember us at the Divine Liturgy or someone else with his rosary to send us a small package as a sign of mercy.
And he advised us to pray with our rosaries for the reposed:
`All of you who have acquaintances or relatives among the reposed pray for them so that they may find comfort and their souls may be saved.
[1] elder Joseph, quoted work p. 188.
Excerpt from My starets Joseph the Hesychast– Pious Ephrem the Philotheos, Evanghelismos Publishing.
