The Starets had so much pity for those who have to endure the sufferings of hell and felt so much compassion for them because he had himself had the experience of the beatitude of Paradise and of the dreadful wretchedness of hell, and he knew the painful distance that separated both. For him, the love of enemies implies wishing and doing good to them. He who loves his enemies wants what is best for them — that they should repent, know God, and obtain the grace of salvation. “We must only have one thought,” says St. Silouan, “that all be saved.”
