Father Gerasimos used to say that during the service of the Holy Proskomide, he often entered into ecstasy, and in a spiritual way he would reach “the edge of the wall” of Hades.

The elder said that with the eyes of his soul he beheld a massive wall, an unimaginably gigantic barrier, to which he was mystically transported by the Holy Spirit. There, he would listen and commemorate thousands of names of souls who dwelt within the tormented Hades.

Father Gerasimos recounted that the souls who appeared on their own out of the darkness did not simply whisper their baptismal names. Rather, they literally screamed their names at him as each one cried out to be remembered.

These forgotten souls caused the elder immense grief, endless tears, and compassionate anguish, saying things such as:

“Fatherrr… my name is Catherine!

I have been unremembered for 300 years!

Do not forget me!

Have a little mercy on me, my elder!”

In this way, thousands of unremembered souls revealed their names to Father Gerasimos during each celebration of the Holy Proskomide.

The elder’s paternal joy and deep emotion whenever the souls appeared was indescribable, for at the hour of the Holy Prothesis he would “transfer” to them a taste of paradise. The Lord Himself permitted these hungry and forgotten souls to present themselves before the elder.

Another soul, for example, appeared from within the darkness, standing behind the immense and terrifying “wall” of Hades, and said:

“Elder, I have been starving for 1,200 years. My name is Demetrios. Show mercy to me as well!”

Or again:

“Father, no one has given me even the slightest food for over 700 years. My name is John. Show me fatherly love as well!”

The most astonishing and truly joyful event was the following: after some time—or even after many years—certain souls appeared again in the Holy Altar, on the right side. After making a full prostration, they would say to Father Gerasimos:

“Elder, I am Catherine, the one who had not been commemorated for 300 years. Thank you, my father.”

And then the soul would vanish into the light! The same happened with Demetrios, John, and others.

Once I asked Father Gerasimos:

“Elder, in this state of ecstasy, how many souls could you see with the eyes of your soul at each service of the Holy Proskomide you celebrated?”

And he replied:

“The ‘visits’ of the unremembered souls could reach even 7,000 to 8,000 each time! Yes, you heard correctly!

And all these God-permitted ‘visits,’ my child, took place within only two or three minutes of our earthly, human time!

There is no space and time for the Lord in His spiritual realm. And the incomprehensible fact for us humans, my child, was that I always remembered by heart, one by one, all those thousands of names that I commemorated! The Lord knows!”

This, according to the holy plan of our Triune God, was the saving almsgiving of Father Gerasimos. After these accounts, I would sometimes press the elder intensely to share even more details.

Until one day he confessed the following:

“Every time I revealed a wondrous event from Above, the Lord permitted the tempter to attack me very harshly afterwards. Blessed one,” he would say, “have mercy on me, no more beatings!”

Ascetic Women in the Cellars of Athens

Supplementary Issue, Pillar of Orthodoxy,