Monday, July 17, 2006

Prayer for those in Hell

What do you think of this prayer, offered by Orthodox Christians for those in Hell on the Feast of Pentecost:
Master of all things, our God and Saviour,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off upon the sea,
who on this final, great and saving day of Pentecost revealed to us
the mystery of the holy, consubstantial, co-eternal,
undivided and uncompounded Trinity

and the coming and presence of your holy and life-giving Spirit
poured out in the form of tongues of fire on your holy Apostles,
setting them as Evangelists of our true faith,
revealing them as confessors and heralds of true theology;
who have also been pleased on this most perfect and saving Feast
to receive suppliant prayers of atonement
for those who are immured in Hell
,
granting us great hopes that repose and comfort will be sent down
from you to the departed from the pains which hold them,
hear us, lowly and wretched, who entreat you,
and give rest to the souls of your servants who have fallen asleep before us
in a place of light, a place of green pasture, a place of refreshment,
from which all grief, sorrow and sighing have fled away,
and establish their spirits in the tents of the Just
and count them worthy of peace and repose.
Because the dead will not praise you, O Lord,
nor do those in Hell have the freedom to offer you thanksgiving,
but we the living bless you and implore you
and bring before you atoning prayers and sacrifices on behalf of their souls.

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