Question: Your blessings Father, I would like to ask whether or not we should commemorate on our prayer rope Judas the Iscariot and other people who have passed away and had betrayed our faith. ~I am from Cyprus.
Answer: I certainly would not recommend it. I read about a hegumeness recently. She had a gift of prayer and was very compassionate. The devil came to her and asked her to pray for him because he was in great torment. "I was an angel, and now I am suffering. I cannot find peace," pleaded the enemy. The hegumeness prayed that God would grant him forgiveness. Eventually, she lost her mind. The devil had tempted her. The Lord would have forgiven even Judah if he had believed in God's love. But he did not, and he hanged himself. The Church has many people to pray for, so let us leave the people like Judah, Arius and other apostates aside. Let us leave it to God to decide their fate.
