Depiction of Hell ???? Hades

"In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side. So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’ But Abraham answered, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.…" LUKE 16:23-25.

This dramatic mural I found in the main church of Domodossola, the Italian town in the Alps of Piedmont. An angel drops water for a suffering woman in hell. I know our Protestant brothers will disagree (me, being the former Protestant) but the traditional Christianity (Orthodox and the Catholic churches) believes that relief is possible for those whose souls happened to descend into the subearthly realms of Hades, thanks to the prayers of a relative or a caring person living on earth. I read the letters of Russian-German clairvoyant elder Sampson (Sievers) where he describes a real case of 2 nuns to whom it was revealed that their brother landed in hell after death (he was a big criminal and murderer in lifetime). They saw him bound with chains in a dark and smelly dungeon. So both nun sisters started to pray and fast (!) for his soul. After 40 days of fasting it was revealed to them that one of his hands was released from a chain. So they kept fasting 40 days more. Then there was another revalation that the secdond hand was released. And so for every limb they fasted for 40 days until in the final revelation he was no more seen in that pitchdark room. Threy themselves after so many days of fasting got extremely skinny, as matches. So prayers for the dead do work. It also mentioned in the Book of Maccabees that it is honourable to pray for the dead. Elder Sampson when he was making bloodless sacrifice for the dead (it is part of the Orthodox liturgy when the Orthodox priest takes a part of prosfora sacrificial bread for each name - then all those pieces are released in the cup with the Blood of our Lord aong with a special prayer for those souls) saw those dead persons whom he was mentioning in that prayer, standing in line to him, waiting for their turn to be mentioned. Once he forgot one name, so that dead person appeared saying "I am Michael, you have forgotten me". This is how grave serious the matters are...

I highly recommend to read this book

Visions of Heaven & Hell Before Dante. It includes: St. Peter's Apocalypse, St. Paul's Apocalypse, St. Brendan's Voyage, St. Patrick's Purgatory, and the Visions of Furseus, Drythelm, Wetti, Charles the Fat, Tundale, the Monk of Evesham, and Thurkill. By Eileen Gardiner. Those are the real cases. This book made a profound lifelong impact on me.

Order here - https://www.amazon.com/Visions-Heaven-Hell-Before-Dante/dp/0934977143