They were delivered up to torturing angels of a very frightening aspect and holding fiery whips in their hands. If some of the souls they were tormenting lifted their heads above the fire, they would whip them hard and thrust them farther into the fire. They would sigh desperately without being able to cry out because of their exhaustion and because of the way they were suffering the great number of torments weighing on them. The souls being tormented were very numerous, even innumerable.
He likewise saw wells and cisterns filled with fire which burned more fiercely still. He looked in and saw that there was only one soul in each cistern. That soul's two feet, which had the appearance of the flesh it wore in the world, were set one on each side of the cistern. And the fire was consuming, one by one, the members with which it had sullied itself in the world.
On looking attentively at one of the cisterns, he recognized the one who was being tormented in it; it was one of those who are marked out in the world, and whom the Scriptures call effeminate.
He likewise saw monks subjected to punishments in that place, and he questioned the angel who was walking with him, 'What evil have these done to be brought here?'
The angel answered, 'Those whom you see are quite pure as regards the body, but they are idlers who go about in places where brothers live as anchorites. They speak evil of the other brothers living near [those they are visiting], knowing that the latter are not on good terms with the former, and thus they think they will find favor on account of their slanders, to get food and drink. And when they leave these [brothers] and go away elsewhere, in turn, they speak ill of those they have been flattering in the ears of those they had just been slandering, again to be well-received by these others. And so for their slanders, they have been cast into these hard torments that never cease.'
The torturing angels were quite filled with joy and gladness... And if the souls they are tormenting beg them to have pity on them, they are full of anger toward them and punish them more with fierce torments. When souls are brought in and turned over to them, they are overjoyed — like one who has made an immense gain — happy over the downfall of the wicked.
As our father Pachomius was looking at the punishments with the angel who accompanied him, one of the torturing angels tugged at him and said joyfully, 'Come, Pachomius, let me show you these other wicked punishments.'
Our father Pachomius, seeing himself gaily dragged by him to look at all these punishments, was amazed at the nature of these pitiless angels and at the way they rejoiced over such evil torments. As for him, he was very sad at the sight of the sufferings in which were found the wretched souls of impious men who were being tormented.
When he had gone on a bit he saw an innumerable crowd of souls of all ages being roughly bustled along by the pitiless torturing angels. Once more he asked his accompanying angel who these souls were and he was told, 'These are the souls of sinners who died today throughout the world, and they are being classified for punishment according to their deserts.'
Having gone on once more toward the west with the angel who was accompanying him and showing him the punishments, he saw down below an opening at the gate of hell. Hell itself is very deep; it is dark and sends out heat like a hearth. This place is the Lord's prison.
When men are brought in, they are hurled into it; they utter loud cries, 'Woe is me for not knowing the God who created me that I might be saved.' Then they cannot speak at all because of the heat and the thick mist of the place. And they no longer recognize each other because of the darkness and the distress that grips them.
Going further on, toward the southwest, he saw there other harsh punishments, of the sort which he had previously seen to the north and by which the souls were being punished.
He was further shown a kind of large house of stone whose length, breadth, and height were enormous. It was full of fire. Into it were thrown all the young people who in this world have sullied their bodies with impurity, unbeknownst to their parents; that is why they are enduring these fierce torments for evil and impure acts that are wicked before God and before men.
It happened that when the angel had finished showing our father Pachomius all the punishments and the sufferings of the torments they entailed by command of the Lord, he counseled him urgently in these terms, 'Pachomius, bear witness to the brothers of all that you have seen, so that they may strive not to fall into such evil punishments. God has sent me to you to show you all this; in turn bear witness of it to the brothers and to the whole world, that they may do penance and be saved.'
From that day on when our father Pachomius assembled the brothers for the instruction, he spoke to them first on the Scriptures because they are the main thing and the breath of God; then he would inform them about all the punishments he had seen and about the sufferings they entailed, and concerning which the angel had given him instructions from the Lord so that they might have the fear of God and might avoid sinning and falling into such punishments and into the tortures which he had seen.
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