The full story of the ordeal of Blessed Theodora

The Monk Vasily had a novice Theodora, who served him a lot; Having accepted the monastic rank, she departed to the Lord. One of the Saint’s disciples, Gregory, had a desire to find out where Theodora was after her death, whether she had received mercy and joy from the Lord for her service to the holy elder.
Often thinking about this, Gregory asked the elder to answer him what was wrong with Theodora, for he firmly believed that the saint of God knew all this. Not wanting to upset his spiritual son, the Monk Vasily prayed that the Lord would reveal to him the fate of blessed Theodora.

And so Gregory saw her in a dream - in a bright monastery, full of heavenly glory and ineffable blessings, which was prepared by God for the Monk Basil and in which Theodora was installed through his prayers. Seeing her, Gregory was delighted and asked her how her soul was separated from her body, what she saw at her death, how she went through the ordeals in the air.

To these questions, Theodora answered him like this: “Child Gregory, you asked about a terrible thing, it’s terrible to remember it. I saw faces that I had never seen, and heard words that I had never heard. What can I tell you? Terrible and terrible I had to see and hear for my deeds, but with the help and prayers of our father, the Monk Vasily, everything was easy for me.

How can I convey to you, child, that bodily torment, that fear and confusion that the dying have to experience! Just as fire burns those thrown into it and turns them into ashes, so mortal torment in the last hour destroys a person. The death of sinners like me is truly terrible!

So, when the hour came for the separation of my soul from my body, I saw around my bed many Ethiopians, black as soot or tar, with eyes burning like coals. They made noise and shouting: some roared like cattle and animals, others barked like dogs, others howled like wolves, and others grunted like pigs. All of them, looking at me, became furious, threatened, gnashed their teeth, as if wanting to eat me; they prepared charters in which all my bad deeds were recorded.

Then my poor soul began to tremble; the torment of death seemed not to exist for me: the menacing vision of the terrible Ethiopians was for me another, more terrible death. I turned my eyes away so as not to see their terrible faces, but they were everywhere and their voices came from everywhere. When I was completely exhausted, I saw two Angels of God approaching me in the form of beautiful young men; their faces were bright, their eyes looked with love, the hair on their heads was as light as snow and shone like gold; the clothes looked like the light of lightning, and on the chest they were girded crosswise with golden belts. Approaching my bed, they stood next to me on the right side, quietly talking to each other.

Seeing them, I was happy; the black Ethiopians trembled and moved away; one of the bright youths addressed them with the following words: “O shameless, damned, dark and evil enemies of the human race! Why do you always rush to come to the beds of the dying, making noise, frightening and confusing every soul that is separated from the body? But not Rejoice very much, you will not find anything here, for God is merciful to her and you have no part or share in this soul.” Having heard this, the Ethiopians rushed about, raising a strong cry and saying: “How do we not have a part in this soul? And whose sins are these,” they said, pointing to the scrolls where all my bad deeds were written down, “didn’t she do this?” and this?" And having said this, they stood and waited for my death.

Finally, death itself came, roaring like a lion and very terrible in appearance; she looked like a person, but only had no body and was made up of only bare human bones. With her were various instruments for torture: swords, spears, arrows, scythes, saws, axes and other weapons unknown to me.

My poor soul trembled when I saw this. The Holy Angels said to death: why are you delaying, free this soul from the body, free it quietly and quickly, because there are not many sins behind it. Obeying this order, death approached me, took a small insult and first of all cut off my legs, then my arms, then gradually with other instruments it cut off my other members, separating body from body, and my whole body became dead. Then, taking the adze, she cut off my head, and it became like a stranger to me, for I could not turn it. After this, Death made some kind of drink in a cup and, bringing it to my lips, forcibly gave me a drink. This drink was so bitter that my soul could not bear it - it shuddered and jumped out of my body, as if forcibly torn out of it. Then the bright Angels took her into their arms.

I turned back and saw my body lying soulless, insensible and motionless, just as if someone takes off his clothes and, throwing them away, looks at them - so I looked at my body, from which I had freed myself, and was very surprised at this. The demons, who were in the form of Ethiopians, surrounded the holy Angels who were holding me and shouted, showing my sins: “This soul has many sins, let him give us an answer for them!”

But the holy Angels began to look for my good deeds and, by the grace of God, they found and collected everything that, with the help of the Lord, I had done good:
when I gave alms, or fed the hungry, or gave drink to the thirsty, or clothed the naked, or brought a stranger into my house and calmed him, or served the saints, or visited the sick and in prison and helped him, or when I diligently went to church and prayed with tenderness and tears, or when she listened with attention to church readings and singing, or brought incense and candles to the church, or made some other offering, or poured wooden oil into the lamps in front of the holy icons and kissed them with reverence, or when she fasted and during all holy fasts, on Wednesday and Friday, she did not eat food, or how many times she bowed and prayed at night, or when she turned to God with all her soul and cried about her sins, or when she confessed her sins to God with complete heartfelt repentance before her spiritual father. sins and tried to atone for them with good deeds, or when I did some good for my neighbor, or when I was not angry with someone who was hostile to me, or when I suffered some kind of insult and abuse and did not remember them and was not angry for them, or when I repaid the good for evil, or when she humbled herself, or lamented about someone else’s misfortune, or she herself was sick and endured it without complaint, or she was ill with another sick person and comforted someone who was crying, or she gave someone a helping hand, or helped in a good deed, or kept someone from doing something bad, or when I did not pay attention to vain affairs, or refrained from vain oaths or slander and idle talk, and all my other smallest deeds were collected by the holy Angels, preparing to put them against my sins.

The Ethiopians, seeing this, gnashed their teeth, because they wanted to kidnap me from the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell. At this time, our reverend father Vasily unexpectedly appeared there and said to the holy Angels: “My Lord, this soul served me a lot, calming my old age, and I prayed to God, and He gave it to me.”

Having said this, he took out from his bosom a golden bag, all full, as I thought, of pure gold, and gave it to the holy Angels, saying: “When you go through airy ordeals, and evil spirits begin to torment this soul, redeem it from its debts; by the grace of God I am rich, because I have collected many treasures for myself through my labors, and I give this bag to the soul who served me.”

Having said this, he disappeared. The crafty demons, seeing this, were in bewilderment and, raising lamentable cries, also disappeared. Then the saint of God, Vasily, came again and brought many vessels with pure oil, expensive myrrh, and, opening each vessel one after another, he poured everything on me, and the fragrance spread from me. Then I realized that I had changed and became especially bright. The saint again turned to the Angels with the following words: “My Lords, when you have completed everything that is necessary for this soul, take it to the house prepared for me by the Lord God and settle it there.” Having said this, he became invisible, and the holy Angels took me, and we went through the air to the east, rising to heaven.

ORDERAL 1st. When we ascended from the earth to the heights of heaven, we were first met by the airy spirits of the first ordeal, in which we are tested sins of idle talk.
This is where we stopped. They brought us many scrolls, where all the words that I had spoken since my youth were written down, everything that was said by me thoughtlessly and, moreover, shamefully. All the blasphemous deeds of my youth were immediately written down, as well as cases of idle laughter, to which youth is so prone. I immediately saw the bad words that I had ever spoken, the shameless songs of the world, and the spirits reproached me, pointing out the place and time and persons with whom I engaged in idle conversations and angering God with my words, and did not at all consider it a sin , and therefore did not confess this to her spiritual father. Looking at these scrolls, I was silent, as if speechless, because I had nothing to answer them; everything they wrote down was the truth. And I was surprised how they hadn’t forgotten anything, because so many years had passed, and I myself had forgotten about it a long time ago. They tested me in detail and in the most skillful way, and little by little I remembered everything. But the holy Angels who led me put an end to my ordeal at the first ordeal: they covered my sins, pointing out to the evil one some of my former good deeds, and what was missing from them to cover my sins, they added from the virtues of my father the Monk Basil and redeemed me from the first ordeal, and we moved on.

ORDERAL 2nd. We have approached another ordeal called ordeal of lies. Here a person gives an account for every false word, and mainly for perjury, for calling on the name of the Lord in vain, for false testimonies, for failure to fulfill the vows given to God, for insincere confession of sins, and for everything like that when a person resorts to lies. The spirits in this ordeal are fierce and cruel and especially test those going through this ordeal. When they stopped us, they began to ask me all the details, and I was caught in the fact that I had once lied twice about the smallest things, so that I did not put it into my sin, and also that once - Out of shame, I didn’t tell the whole truth in confession to my spiritual father. Having caught me in a lie, the spirits came to great joy and already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels, but they, to cover the found sins, pointed to my good deeds, and replenished the missing ones with the good deeds of my father, the Monk Vasily, and thereby redeemed me from this ordeal, and we went higher without hindrance.

ORDERAL 3rd. The ordeal we came to later is called ordeal of condemnation and slander. Here, when they stopped us, I saw how seriously the one who condemns his neighbor sins, and how much evil there is when one slanders another, dishonors him, scolds him, when he swears and laughs at the sins of others, not paying attention to his own. Terrible spirits test sinners in this way because they anticipate the dignity of Christ and make their neighbors judges and destroyers, when they themselves are immeasurably more worthy of condemnation. In this ordeal, by the grace of God, I did not find myself sinful in many ways, because throughout my entire life I was careful not to judge anyone, not to slander anyone, I did not mock anyone, I did not scold anyone; sometimes, just listening to how others condemned their neighbors, slandered them or laughed at them, in my thoughts I partly agreed with them and, through carelessness, added a little of myself to their speeches, but, having come to my senses, I immediately restrained myself. But even this, the spirits who tested me, put me into sin, and only through the merits of St. Basil did the holy Angels free me from this ordeal, and we went higher.

ORDERAL 4th. Continuing our journey, we reached a new ordeal, which is called ordeal of gluttony. Bad spirits ran out to meet us, rejoicing that a new victim was coming to them. The appearance of these spirits was ugly: they portrayed different types of voluptuous gluttons and vile drunkards: they carried dishes and bowls with dishes and various drinks. The food and drink were also vile in appearance, resembling stinking pus and vomit. The spirits of this ordeal seemed satiated and drunk, they galloped with music in their hands and did everything that feasting people usually do, and cursed at the souls of sinners they brought to the ordeal.

These spirits, like dogs, surrounded us, stopped and began to show all my sins of this kind: did I ever eat secretly, or through force and beyond the need, or in the morning, like a pig, without prayer and the sign of the cross, or did I eat during holy fasts? before the time appointed by the church charter, or due to intemperance she ate before lunch, or during lunch she was over-filled. They also calculated my drunkenness, showing the cups and vessels from which I drank, and directly said: you drank so many cups at such and such a time, and at such and such a feast, with such and such people; and in another place I drank so much and reached the point of unconsciousness and vomiting, and so many times I feasted and danced to music, clapping my hands, sang songs and jumped, and when they brought you home, I was exhausted from immeasurable drunkenness; The wicked spirits also showed me those cups from which I sometimes drank in the morning and on fasting days for the sake of guests, or when, out of weakness, I drank to the point of intoxication and did not consider it a sin and did not repent, but on the contrary, I also tempted others to do the same.

They also pointed out to me when on Sundays it happened to me to drink before the Holy Liturgy, and they pointed out many similar things to me from my sins of gluttony and rejoiced, already considering me in their power, and intended to take me to the bottom of hell; I, seeing myself exposed and not having anything to say against them, trembled. But the holy Angels, having borrowed his good deeds from the treasury of St. Basil, covered my sins and removed them from the power of those evil spirits. Seeing this, they raised a cry: “Woe to us! Our labors are lost! Our hope is gone!” - and they began to throw packages through the air where my sins were written; I was glad, and then we went from there without any hindrance.

During the journey to the next ordeal, the holy Angels had a conversation with each other. They said: “This soul truly receives great help from the saint of God Vasily: if his prayers did not help her, she would have to experience great need, going through the ordeals of the air.” This is what the Angels accompanying me said, and I took it upon myself to ask them: “My Lords, it seems to me that no one living on earth knows what happens here, and what awaits the sinful soul after death?”

The Holy Angels answered me: “Do the divine scriptures, always read in churches and preached by the servants of God, say little about this! Only those addicted to earthly vanity do not pay attention to this, finding a special charm in eating daily to satiety and getting drunk, doing thus the belly with their god, not thinking about the future life and forgetting the words of Scripture: Woe to you, who are filled now, for you are hungry, and you who are drunk, for you are thirsty. They consider the Holy Scriptures to be fables and live in neglect of their souls, feasting with songs and music. every day, like the rich man of the Gospel, they rejoice brightly. But those who are merciful and merciful, do good to the poor and needy - these receive forgiveness of their sins from God and for their alms they go through ordeals without special torture, according to the word of Scripture: alms delivers from death and death. forgives all sin. Those who do alms and righteousness are filled with life, but those who do not try to cleanse their sins with alms cannot escape these trials, and the dark-shaped princes of the ordeals that you saw kidnap them, and, cruelly torturing them, take them to the bottom of hell and keep them there. in bonds until the Last Judgment of Christ. And it would have been impossible for you to avoid this if not for the treasury of good deeds of St. Basil, from which your sins were covered.”

ORDERAL 5th. Conversing in this way, we reached the ordeal called the ordeal of laziness, in which a person gives an answer for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites also linger here, feeding on the labors of others and not wanting to do anything themselves, or taking payment for work not completed. There they also ask those who do not care about the glory of the name of God and are lazy to go to the Divine Liturgy and other services of God on holidays and Sundays. Here, both worldly and spiritual people experience negligence and despondency, laziness and carelessness about their souls, and many from here are led into the abyss. I was tested a lot here, and if it weren’t for the virtues of St. Basil, who made up for the lack of my good deeds. then I would not be freed from the debt to the evil spirits of this ordeal for my sins; but they covered everything, and I was taken out of there.

ORDERAL 6th. Following ordeal of theft. We were detained there for a short time, and few good deeds were required to cover my sins, because I did not commit theft, except for one, very small one, in childhood due to foolishness.

ORDERAL 7th. After the ordeal of theft we came to the ordeal of love of money and stinginess. But we also passed this ordeal safely, because, by the grace of God, during my earthly life I did not worry about acquiring property and was not money-loving, but was content with what the Lord sent me, I was not stingy, and what I had, diligently gave to those in need.

ORDERAL 8th. Ascending higher, we have reached the ordeal called ordeal of covetousness, where those who give away their money at interest and thereby receive unjust gains are tested. Here those who appropriate for themselves what belongs to others give an account. The crafty spirits of this ordeal thoroughly searched me, and, not finding any sin behind me, gnashed their teeth; We, having thanked God, went higher.

ORDERAL 9th. We have reached the ordeal called the ordeal of untruth, where all unrighteous judges are tortured, who conduct their trials for money, acquit the guilty, condemn the innocent; Here those who do not pay due wages to mercenaries or use the wrong measure when trading, etc., are tortured. But we, by the grace of God, passed this ordeal without hindrance, covering my sins of this kind with only a few good deeds.

ORDERAL 10th. We also successfully passed the next ordeal, called ordeal of envy. I didn’t have any sins of this kind at all, because I never envied. And although other sins were experienced here: dislike, brotherly hatred, enmity, hatred, but, by the mercy of God, I turned out to be innocent of all these sins and saw how furiously the demons gnashed their teeth, but I was not afraid of them, and, rejoicing, we went higher.

ORDERAL 11th. In a similar way we went through ordeal of pride, where arrogant and proud spirits test those who are vain, think a lot about themselves and boast; The souls of those who are disrespectful to father and mother, as well as to the authorities appointed by God, are especially carefully tested here: cases of disobedience to them, and other acts of pride, and vain words are considered. I needed very, very few good deeds to cover my sins during this ordeal, and I received freedom.

ORDERAL 12th. The new ordeal that we later achieved was the ordeal of anger and rage; but even here, despite the fact that the spirits torturing here are fierce, they received little from us, and we continued our path, thanking God, who covered my sins with the prayers of my father, the Monk Vasily.

ORDERAL 13th. After the ordeal of anger and rage, we were presented with an ordeal in which those who harbor evil in their hearts against their neighbors and repay evil for evil are mercilessly tortured. From here the spirits of evil with particular fury reduce the souls of sinners to Tartarus. But God’s mercy did not abandon me here either: I never had any malice against anyone, I did not remember the evil done to me, but, on the contrary, I forgave my enemies and, as far as I was able, revealed my love for them, thus defeating evil with good. Therefore, I did not turn out to be a sinner in any way during this ordeal; the demons wept that I was freely leaving their cruel hands; We continued on our way in joy.

On the way, I asked the holy Angels who led me: “My Lords, I ask you, tell me how these terrible air powers know all the evil deeds of all the people who live in the world, just like mine, and not only reveal those created, but also which only the one who did them knows?” The Holy Angels answered me: “Every Christian, from his most holy baptism, receives from God a Guardian Angel, who invisibly protects a person and throughout his life, even until the hour of death, instructs him in all goodness and all these good deeds that a person does during his life.” earthly life, writes down so that he can receive mercy from the Lord for them and eternal reward in the Kingdom of Heaven. So the prince of darkness, who wants to destroy the human race, assigns to each person one of the evil spirits, who always walks after a person and watches everything about him. from youth, evil deeds, encouraging them with his machinations, and collects everything that a person has done that is bad. Then he takes all these sins to the ordeal, recording each one in the appropriate place. Hence, the air princes know all the sins of all the people who live in the world. When the soul is separated from the body and strives to ascend to heaven to its Creator, then evil spirits hinder it, showing lists of its sins, and if the soul has more good deeds than sins, then they cannot restrain it; when there are more sins on her than good deeds, then they hold her for a while, imprison her in the prison of God’s ignorance and torture her, as far as the power of God allows them, until the soul, through the prayers of the Church and relatives, receives freedom. If any soul turns out to be so sinful and unworthy before God that all hope for its salvation is lost and it is threatened with eternal death, then it is brought down into the abyss, where it remains until the second coming of the Lord, when eternal torment begins for it in fiery hell. Know also that only the souls of those who are enlightened by holy baptism are tested in this way. Those who do not believe in Christ, idolaters and, in general, everyone who does not know the true God do not ascend this way, because during earthly life they are alive only in body, and in soul are already buried in hell. And when they die, the demons, without any testing, take their souls and bring them down to Gehenna and the abyss."

ORDERAL 14th. While I was talking in this way with the holy Angels, we entered the ordeal called ordeal of murder. Here, not only robbery is tormented, but they demand an account for any punishment inflicted on anyone, for any blow on the shoulders or head, on the cheek or neck, or when someone angrily pushes his neighbor away from him. Evil spirits experience all this here in detail and weigh it; We went through this ordeal without hindrance, leaving a small part of good deeds to cover my sins.

ORDERAL 15th. We also passed through the next ordeal without hindrance, where we are tortured by spirits for sorcery, witchcraft, charm, whispering, summoning demons. The spirits of this ordeal are similar in appearance to four-legged reptiles, scorpions, snakes and toads; in a word, it’s scary and disgusting to look at them. By the grace of God, the spirits of this ordeal did not find a single similar sin in me, and we moved on; the spirits shouted after me with rage: “Let's see how you leave the prodigal places when you get there!”

When we began to ascend higher, I asked the Angels who were leading me: “My Lords, do all Christians go through these ordeals, and is it possible for anyone to pass here without torture and fear?” The Holy Angels answered me: “For the souls of believers ascending to heaven, there is no other way - everyone goes here, but not everyone is as tested in ordeals as you are, but only sinners like you, that is, those who, out of shame, did not sincerely open to the spiritual father of all his sins in confession. If someone sincerely repents of all sins, then by the mercy of God the sins are invisibly blotted out, and when such a soul passes here, the airy torturers open their books and find nothing written behind it; they can frighten her, cause her something unpleasant, and the soul ascends in joy to the throne of grace. And you, if you repented of everything before your spiritual father and received permission from him, would avoid the horrors of going through ordeals; that you have long ceased to commit mortal sins and have been leading a virtuous life for many years, and that the prayers of St. Basil, whom you diligently served on earth, help you the most.”

ORDERAL 16th. During this conversation we came to the ordeal called prodigal, where a person is tortured for all fornication and all unclean passionate thoughts, for consenting to sin, for nasty touches and passionate touches. The prince of this ordeal sat on the throne dressed in stinking, nasty clothes, sprinkled with bloody foam and replacing him with a royal scarlet robe; many demons stood before him. Seeing me, they were surprised that I had reached their ordeal, and they brought out scrolls in which my fornication was written down, began to count them, indicating the persons with whom I sinned in my youth, and the time when I sinned, i.e. during the day or at night, and the places where she committed sin. I couldn’t answer them and stood there, trembling with shame and fear. The Holy Angels, who were leading me, began to say to the demons: “She had long ago abandoned the life of prodigal life and spent all this time in purity and abstinence.” The demons answered: “And we know that she stopped leading a prodigal life, but she did not reveal it to her spiritual father and did not bear penance from him to atone for her previous sins - therefore she is ours, and you either leave or redeem her with good deeds.” . The Holy Angels pointed out many of my good deeds, and even more with the good deeds of St. Basil they covered my sins, and I barely got rid of severe misfortune. We moved on.

ORDERAL 17th. The next ordeal was ordeal of adultery, where the sins of those living in marriage are tortured: if someone did not maintain marital fidelity, or desecrated his bed, he must give an account here. Those who sin in abduction for fornication and violence are also tortured here. Here they test persons who dedicated themselves to God and took a vow of chastity, but did not keep their vow and fell into fornication; the torture of these is especially terrible. At this ordeal I turned out to be a lot of sinners, I was caught in adultery, and evil spirits already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell. But the holy Angels argued a lot with them and barely redeemed me, leaving all my good deeds here until the last and adding a lot from the treasury of St. Basil. And taking me from them, they went further.

ORDERAL 18th. After this we reached ordeal of Sodom, where sins that disagree with either male or female nature are tortured, as well as copulation with demons and dumb animals, and incest, and other secret sins of this kind, which are shameful to even remember. The prince of this ordeal, the worst of all the demons surrounding him, was completely covered with stinking pus; its ugliness is difficult to describe. They were all burning with rage; They hastily ran out to meet us and surrounded us. But, by the grace of God, they did not find me guilty of anything sinful and therefore ran back in shame; We, rejoicing, emerged from this ordeal.

After this, the holy Angels said to me: “You have seen, Theodora, the terrible and nasty ordeals of fornication. Know that a rare soul goes through them without arrest, because the whole world lies in the evil of temptations and defilements, and all people are voluptuous and prone to fornication. Man already from early youth he is inclined to these things, and is unlikely to save himself from uncleanness; those who mortify their carnal lusts and therefore freely go through these ordeals; the cruel torturers kidnap the souls of fornicators and, terribly torturing them, take them to hell. You, Theodora, thank God that through the prayers of Saint Basil you passed through these prodigal ordeals, and you will no longer encounter delays.”

ORDERAL 19th. After the prodigal ordeals we came to ordeal of heresies, where people are tortured for incorrect opinions about objects of faith, as well as for apostasy from the Orthodox faith, distrust of the true teaching, doubts in the faith, blasphemy and the like. I went through this ordeal without stopping, and we were already not far from the gates of heaven.

TRIBULATION 20th. But before we reached the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, we were met by the evil spirits of the last ordeal, which is called the ordeal of unmercifulness and cruelty. The torturers of this ordeal are especially cruel, especially their prince. In appearance, he is dry, sad, and in his rage he suffocates with merciless fire. In this ordeal, the souls of the merciless are tested without any mercy. And if someone turns out to have accomplished many feats, strictly observed fasts, was vigilant in prayer, preserved purity of heart and mortified the flesh with abstinence, but was unmerciful, unmerciful, deaf to the pleas of his neighbor - he is brought down from this ordeal, imprisoned in the hellish abyss and does not receive forgiveness forever. But we, through the prayers of St. Basil, who helped me everywhere with his good deeds, passed through this ordeal without hindrance.

This ended a series of aerial ordeals, and we joyfully approached the gates of heaven. These gates were as bright as crystal, and a radiance that could not be described was visible all around; Sun-shaped youths shone in them, who, seeing me, led by Angels to the heavenly gates, were filled with joy because I, covered by the mercy of God, had gone through all the aerial ordeals. They kindly greeted us and led us inside.

What I saw and heard there, Gregory - it’s impossible to describe! I was brought to the throne of the unapproachable glory of God, which was surrounded by Cherubim, Seraphim and many heavenly armies, praising God with unspeakable songs; I fell on my face and bowed to the invisible and inaccessible to the human mind Divinity. Then the heavenly powers sang a sweet song praising the mercy of God, which cannot be exhausted by the sins of people, and a voice was heard commanding the Angels who were leading me to take me to see the abodes of the saints, as well as all the torments of sinners, and then to calm me down in the monastery prepared for the blessed one. Vasily. At this command, I was taken everywhere, and I saw villages and abodes filled with glory and grace, prepared for those who love God. Those who led me showed me separately the monasteries of the Apostles, and the monasteries of the Prophets, and the monasteries of the Martyrs, and the monasteries of the Holy Hierarchs, and special monasteries for each rank of saints. Each monastery was distinguished by its extraordinary beauty, and in length and width I could compare each one with Constantinople, if only they were not even better and did not have many bright, not made by hand rooms.

Everyone who was there, seeing me, rejoiced at my salvation, met and kissed me, glorifying God, who delivered me from the evil one.

When we walked around these monasteries, I was brought down to the underworld, and there I saw the unbearable terrible torment that was prepared in hell for sinners. Showing them off. The angels who led me said to me: “You see, Theodora, from what torment, through the prayers of Saint Basil, the Lord delivered you.” I heard screams and crying and bitter sobs there; some groaned, others exclaimed angrily: alas for us! There were also those who cursed the day of their birth, but there was no one who would take pity on them. Having finished examining the places of torment. The angels took me out of there and brought me to the monastery of St. Basil, telling me: “Now St. Basil commemorates you.” Then I realized that I had come to this place of peace forty days after my separation from the body."

Blessed Theodora recounted all this to Gregory in a dream vision and showed him the beauty of that monastery and the spiritual riches that were gained through the arduous exploits of St. Basil; She also showed Gregory Theodora both pleasure and glory, and various golden-leafed and fruit-rich gardens, and in general all the spiritual joy of the righteous.

Reproduced by:
"The Ordeal of Blessed Theodora", Kovcheg Publishing House, 2007

Photo
The death of Saint Theodora and visions of the ordeal of the soul
Second half of the 19th century. Unknown artist
From the collection of the State Historical Museum

The Monk Theodora lived in Constantinople in the first half of the 10th century. She was married, but widowed and led a pious life, serving the poor and strangers, then she became a monk and lived under the guidance of the Venerable Basil the New (March 26). She died at an old age. The disciple of Saint Basil, Gregory, with a prayer began to ask the elder to reveal to him the afterlife of the holy old woman Theodora. And so, for the sake of his persistent requests, through the prayer of the elder, a wonderful vision appeared to Gregory in a dream: he found himself in a holy, beautiful garden, where he met Theodora and could ask her about how she parted with her body and how she came to this holy monastery. The venerable woman answered: “How can I, dear child Gregory, tell you everything? After what I experienced in fear and trembling, I forgot a lot, especially since I saw such faces and heard such voices that I had never seen or heard in my entire life. What I can say is that I would have met a cruel death for my wrongful deeds committed on earth, if not for the prayers of our father Vasily. His prayers alone made my death easy.” After this, the Monk Theodora told how at her death she was frightened by many evil spirits that suddenly appeared. They brought large books in which the sins of her entire life were recorded, and looked through them impatiently, as if expecting the arrival of some judge any minute. Seeing this, she came into such awe and horror that she was completely exhausted, and, looking around in suffering, wanted to see someone who could drive away the demons. Being in such a painful state, the saint saw two angels standing next to her, the evil spirits immediately moved away. “Why do you, gloomy enemies of the human race, confuse and torment the dying soul? Don’t rejoice, there is nothing of yours here,” said one angel. Then the shameless spirits began to remember everything that the saint had done from her youth, whether in word, deed or thought. At the same time, they added a lot of their own, trying to slander the saint. Finally death came, she poured something into a cup and brought it to the saint to drink, and then, taking a knife, cut off her head. “Oh, my child,” St. Theodora continued the story, “how bitter, bitter I felt then! At that moment, death tore out my soul, which quickly separated from the body, just as a bird quickly jumps away from the hand of a catcher if he sets it free.” The luminous angels accepted the saint’s soul and began to depart with it to Heaven, but the saint’s body remained lying on the earth, like discarded clothing. When the holy angels held the soul of the saint, the evil spirits, approaching again, said: “We have many of her sins, answer us for them.” And then the angels began to remember all the good deeds that the saint did: her mercy, love of peace, love for the temple of God, patience, humility, fasting and many other deeds that the saint endured in life. Then the venerable elder Vasily appeared and began to say to the angels: “My patrons, this soul has served me a lot, calming my weakness and old age. I prayed to the Lord for her, and He granted me this blessing.” At the same time, the Monk Basil gave the angels some kind of reliquary, adding: “When you want to bypass the ordeals of the air, redeem her by taking from this reliquary and giving it to the crafty and evil spirits.” The angels took St. Theodora and headed up to Heaven, ascending as if through the air. And then on the way we suddenly encountered the first ordeal, which is called the ordeal of Idle Talk and Profanity. The torturers demanded an answer to everything that the Monk Theodora had ever said badly; they accused her of indecent laughter, ridicule, and bad songs. The saint forgot all this, for much time had passed since she began to lead a life pleasing to God. But the angels protected her.

Above was the ordeal of Lies. The evil spirits who were there were very vile, disgusting and ferocious. They began to furiously slander the saint, but the angels gave them from the reliquary and passed them by. When the saint reached the third ordeal - Condemnation and Slander, an older one came out from the evil spirits and began to tell with what bad words the saint had slandered someone in her life. He showed a lot of things that were false, but it was surprising with what detail and accuracy the demons remembered what the saint herself had forgotten.

The servants of the fourth ordeal - Eating and Drunkenness, like predatory wolves, were ready to devour the saint, remembering how she ate in the morning without praying to God, ate before lunch and dinner and without measure, broke her fasts. Trying to snatch Theodora’s soul from the hands of the angels, one of the evil spirits said: “Didn’t you promise the Lord your God at holy baptism to renounce Satan and all his works and everything that belongs to Satan? Having made such a vow, how could you do what you did?” And the demons even counted all the cups of wine that the Monk Theodora drank throughout her life. When she said: “Yes, it happened, and I remember this,” the angels again gave a part from the reliquary of St. Basil, as they did at every ordeal, and moved on.

“Do people on earth know what awaits them here and what they will encounter after their death?” - St. Theodora asked the angels. “Yes, they know,” answered the angel, “but the pleasures and delights of life affect them so strongly, absorb their attention so much that they involuntarily forget about what awaits them beyond the grave. Good for those who remember the Holy Scriptures and give alms or do any other good deeds, which can subsequently redeem them from the eternal torment of hell. But woe to those who live carelessly, as if immortal, thinking only about the blessings of the belly and pride. If death suddenly befalls them, it will completely destroy them, since they will not have any good deeds to defend themselves; The dark princes of these ordeals, having greatly tormented the souls of those people, will take them to the dark places of hell and will hold them until the coming of Christ. So you, Theodora, would have suffered if you had not received the gifts from the saint of God Vasily, which saved you here from everything bad.” In such a conversation, they reached the fifth ordeal - Laziness, where sinners are tortured for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites who are too lazy to go to the temple of God on holidays linger here. There, despondency and negligence of both worldly and spiritual people are examined and everyone’s negligence about his soul is examined. Many from there fall into the abyss. The angels made up for the shortcomings of the saint with the gifts of St. Vasily and went further.

The sixth ordeal - Theft - they passed freely. Also, the seventh ordeal - Love of Money and Stinginess - the angels passed without delay, because, by the grace of God, the saint was always content with what God gave, and diligently distributed what she had to those in need.

The spirits of the eighth ordeal—the extortionists, tormenting bribery and flattery—gnashed their teeth in anger when the angels passed from them, for they had nothing against the saint.

The ninth ordeal - Untruth and Vanity, the tenth - Envy, and the eleventh - Pride - the angels passed freely.

Soon on the way we encountered the twelfth ordeal - Wrath. The eldest of the spirits, filled with anger and pride, ordered the servants to torment and torture the saint. The demons repeated all the true words of the saint, spoken by her in anger, and even recalled how she looked at her children with anger or severely punished them. The angels responded to all this by giving from the ark.

Like robbers, the evil spirits of the thirteenth ordeal, Grudge, jumped up, but, finding nothing in their notes, they wept bitterly. Then the saint dared to ask one of the angels how the evil spirits knew who and what had done bad things in life. The angel answered: “Every Christian at holy baptism receives a guardian angel who invisibly protects him from everything bad and instructs him in everything good, who records all the good deeds done by this person. On the other hand, the evil angel monitors the evil deeds of people throughout his life and writes them down in his book. He writes down all the sins in which, as you have seen, people are tested, going through ordeals and heading to Heaven. These sins can prevent a soul from entering heaven and lead straight into the abyss, in which evil spirits themselves live. And there these souls will live until the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, if they do not have good deeds behind them that could snatch them from the hands of the devil. People who believe in the Holy Trinity, who partake of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior as often as possible, directly ascend to Heaven without any obstacles. And the holy angels of God are protectors, and the holy saints of God pray for the salvation of the souls of people who lived righteously. No one cares about the wicked and evil heretics who do nothing useful in their lives, and the angels cannot say anything in their defense.”

In the fourteenth ordeal - Robbery, which the angels reached, everyone was tested who pushed someone with anger, hit them on the cheeks or with any weapon. And the angels passed through this ordeal freely. Suddenly they found themselves in the fifteenth ordeal - Sorcery, charm (witchcraft), poisoning, summoning demons. There were serpentine spirits here, the purpose of whose existence was to lead people into temptation and debauchery. By the grace of Christ, the saint soon passed this ordeal. After this, she asked whether for every sin that a person commits in life, he is tortured in ordeals, or is it possible to atone for the sin during his lifetime in order to be cleansed of it and not suffer during ordeals. The angels answered the Monk Theodora that not everyone is tested in such detail at the ordeal, but only those who, like her, did not confess sincerely before death. “If I had confessed to my spiritual father without any shame or fear everything sinful and received forgiveness,” said the Monk Theodora, “then I would have gone through all these ordeals without hindrance and I would not have had to be tortured for a single sin. But just as I did not want to sincerely confess my sins to my father, here they torture me for it. Of course, it helped me a lot that throughout my life I tried and wanted to avoid sin. Anyone who diligently strives for repentance always receives forgiveness from God, and through this a free transition from this life to a blissful afterlife. Evil spirits who are in ordeals along with their scriptures, having opened them, do not find anything written, for the Holy Spirit makes everything written invisible. And they see this and know that everything they wrote down has been erased thanks to confession, and then they grieve very much. If the person still lives, then they try to write down some other sins in this place. Great indeed is the salvation of a person in confession! She saves him from many troubles and misfortunes, gives him the opportunity to go through all the ordeals without hindrance and get closer to God. Others do not confess, hoping that there will still be time for salvation and forgiveness of sins. Others are simply ashamed to tell their confessor their sins in confession - these are the people who will be tested strictly in the ordeals. There are also those who are ashamed to tell one spiritual father everything, but choose several and reveal some sins to one, others to another, and so on. For such a confession they will be punished and will endure a lot during the transition from ordeal to ordeal.”

The sixteenth ordeal—Fornication—imperceptibly approached. The torturers were amazed that the saint reached them without hindrance and, when they began to say what she had done in life, they gave many false testimonies, citing names and places in support. The servants of the seventeenth ordeal - Adultery - did the same.

The eighteenth ordeal is Sodom, where all unnatural prodigal sins and incest are tortured, all the most vile, secretly committed deeds, which, according to the word of the Apostle, are ashamed to even talk about, the Monk Theodora soon passed. When they rose higher, the angels said to her: “You have seen the terrible and disgusting ordeals of fornication. Know that a rare soul passes them freely. The whole world is immersed in the evil of temptations and defilements, almost all people are voluptuous, the thoughts of the human heart are evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21). There are few who mortify carnal lusts and few who freely pass by these ordeals. Most of them die when they get here. The authorities of the prodigal ordeals boast that they alone, more than all other ordeals, fill the fiery kinship in hell. Thank God, Theodora, that you passed these prodigal torturers through the prayers of your father. You will no longer see fear.”

At the nineteenth ordeal - Idolatry and all heresy - the saint was not tested in anything. In the last, twentieth ordeal - Unmercy and Cruelty - all the unmerciful, cruel, harsh and hateful were written down. The soul of a person who did not follow God’s commandment of mercy is thrown from here into hell and locked up until the general resurrection. The servants of the cruel demon flew up like annoying bees, but, not finding anything in the saint, they moved away. Joyful angels led the saint through the gates of Heaven. When they entered the sky, the water that was above the earth parted and behind them united again. A rejoicing host of angels met the saint and led her to the Throne of God. As they walked, two Divine clouds descended on them. At an inexplicable height stood the Throne of God, so white that it illuminated everyone who stood before it. “Everything there is such that it is impossible to understand or explain; the mind is clouded with bewilderment, and the memory disappears, and I forgot where I am,” said the Monk Theodora. She bowed to the Invisible God and heard a voice commanding her to show her all the souls of the righteous and sinners and then give her peace.

After the story, Theodora led Gregory through the Heavenly monastery, led him into the palace, into the garden, where he, amazed by the blessings, wanted to learn more about them, but the venerable one only said that all this is unearthly and goes to those who endure many sorrows and misfortunes in earthly life who guards the commandments of the Lord and fulfills them exactly. So, having bowed to the saint, Gregory returned home and at that time woke up and began to reflect on what he had seen. Fearing whether this was a demonic obsession, he hurried to the teacher, the Monk Vasily, but he, having warned him, himself told everything that Gregory saw and asked him to write down what he saw and heard for the benefit of his neighbors. We think that every repentant Christian will find great benefit for himself in this story, will think with fear about what awaits him after his repose, and will want, while there is time, to soberly reassess his life, his actions, words, thoughts, and quickly confess everything sinful. without concealment, rejecting indecision.

One day,” writes Gregory, “coming to my spiritual father Vasily, I learned that his servant, Theodora, having accepted the monastic rank, peacefully departed to the Lord. Everyone who knew her was saddened by her death, as she did a lot of good in her life. I was no less upset than others. But I did not grieve so much for her loss as for the fact that I did not know what fate she received after her death and whether she was numbered among the holy righteous or not.

Tormented by such internal questions, at first I did not say anything to Saint Basil, but then, knowing that the monk, by his insight, already knew my secret thoughts and desires, I turned to him with a convincing request to tell me what fate I had received after my death. her Theodora, who spent the last days of her life quite piously. Saint Basil, having listened carefully to my request as usual, promised to pray to the merciful Lord to grant me this mercy. The Lord heard the saint’s prayer. When I was leaving home, the monk asked me again: “So do you really want this?” To this I replied that I would very, very much like to. The monk said: “You will see her today if you ask for it with faith and if you are deeply confident in the possibility of fulfilling your request.” I was very surprised and reasoned with myself: “How and where will I see the one who has departed to eternal life?”

That same night I fell asleep on my bed and now I see a certain handsome and attractive young man, who, coming up to me, said: “Get up, Reverend Father Vasily is calling you to go together to visit Theodora; if you want to see her, then go with you will see him."

I tried to get up quickly; He immediately went to the monk and, not finding him at home, asked everyone present there about him. They answered me that the Monk Vasily himself went to visit Theodora. It hurt me to hear this, and I exclaimed with sadness: “Why didn’t he wait for me, so that I could fulfill my cherished desire and be comforted by seeing my spiritual mother!..”

And then one of those present showed me the path along which Saint Basil set out and along which I had to go. I set off after the saint and suddenly on this path I found myself as if in an unknown labyrinth: the narrow road, leading unknown where, was so inconvenient that with fear it was hardly possible to walk along it... I found myself in front of a gate that was tightly locked; approaching them, I looked through the hole, wanting to see someone inside the courtyard to ask about the saint, if only he had come here. Indeed, to my happiness, I saw a woman there sitting and talking with her friends; Having called her, I asked: “Madam, whose yard is this?” She replied that it belonged to our father Vasily, who recently came here to visit his spiritual children. Hearing this, I was happy and dared to ask her to open the gate for me so that I could enter, since I, too, am the spiritual child of Father Vasily. But the maid did not open the door for me without Theodora’s permission. I started knocking hard on the door, asking him to open it. Theodora heard, came to the gate herself and, seeing me, immediately recognized me and hastened to open it, saying: “Here he is, the beloved son of my master Vasily!” She led me into the courtyard, rejoicing at my arrival and greeting me with a holy kiss, saying: “Brother Gregory! Who instructed you to come here?” I told her in detail how, through the prayer of Saint Basil, I achieved the happiness of seeing her in the glory that she acquired thanks to her ascetic life. For the sake of spiritual benefit, I convincingly asked the saint to tell me everything: how she parted with her body, how she passed by the slanderers, how she came to this holy monastery, how she lives here?.. Theodora answered me:

Child Gregory, you asked about a terrible thing, it’s terrible to remember it. I saw faces I had never seen and heard words I had never heard. What can I tell you? I had to see and hear terrible things because of my deeds, but with the help and prayers of our father, the Monk Vasily, everything was easy for me.

How can I convey to you, child, that bodily torment, that fear and confusion that the dying have to experience! Just as fire burns those thrown into it and turns them into ashes, so the pain of death in the last hour destroys a person. The death of sinners like me is truly terrible!

So, when the hour came for the separation of my soul from my body, I saw around my bed many Ethiopians, black as soot or tar, with eyes burning like coals. They made noise and shouting: some roared like cattle and animals, others barked like dogs, others howled like wolves, and others grunted like pigs. All of them, looking at me, became furious, threatened, gnashed their teeth, as if wanting to eat me; they prepared charters in which all my bad deeds were recorded. Then my poor soul began to tremble; the torment of death seemed not to exist for me: the menacing vision of the terrible Ethiopians was for me another, more terrible death. I turned my eyes away so as not to see their terrible faces, but they were everywhere and their voices came from everywhere. When I was completely exhausted, I saw two Angels of God approaching me in the form of beautiful young men; their faces were bright, their eyes looked with love, the hair on their heads was as light as snow and shone like gold; the clothes looked like the light of lightning, and on the chest they were girded crosswise with golden belts. Approaching my bed, they stood next to me on the right side, quietly talking to each other.

Seeing them, I was happy; the black Ethiopians trembled and moved away; one of the bright youths addressed them with the following words: “O shameless, damned, dark and evil enemies of the human race! Why do you always rush to come to the beds of the dying, making noise, frightening and confusing every soul that is separated from the body? But not Rejoice very much, you will not find anything here, for God is merciful to her and you have no part or share in this soul.” Having heard this, the Ethiopians rushed about, raising a strong cry and saying: “How do we not have a part in this soul? And these are whose sins,” they said, pointing to the scrolls where all my bad deeds were written down, “didn’t she do this?” and this?" And having said this, they stood and waited for my death. Finally, death itself came, roaring like a lion and very terrible in appearance; she looked like a person, but only had no body and was made up of only bare human bones. With her were various instruments for torture: swords, spears, arrows, scythes, saws, axes and other weapons unknown to me.

My poor soul trembled when I saw this. The Holy Angels said to death: “Why are you delaying, free this soul from the body, free it quietly and quickly, because there are not many sins behind it.” Obeying this order, death approached me, took a small insult and first of all cut off my legs, then my arms, then gradually with other instruments it cut off my other members, separating body from body, and my whole body became dead. Then, taking the adze, she cut off my head, and it became like a stranger to me, for I could not turn it. After this, Death made some kind of drink in a cup and, bringing it to my lips, forcibly gave me a drink. This drink was so bitter that my soul could not bear it - it shuddered and jumped out of my body, as if forcibly torn out of it. Then the bright Angels took her into their arms. I turned back and saw my body lying soulless, insensible and motionless, just as if someone takes off his clothes and, throwing them away, looks at them - so I looked at my body, from which I had freed myself, and was very surprised at this. The demons, who were in the form of Ethiopians, surrounded the holy Angels who were holding me and shouted, showing my sins: “This soul has many sins, let him give us an answer for them!”

But the holy Angels began to look for my good deeds and, by the grace of God, they found and collected everything that, with the help of the Lord, I had done good: whether I gave alms, or fed the hungry, or gave drink to the thirsty, or clothed the naked, or led a stranger into her home and calmed it down, or served the saints, or visited the sick and in prison and helped him, or when she went to church with zeal and prayed with tenderness and tears, or when she listened attentively to church readings and singing, or brought incense to church and candles, or made some other offering, or poured wooden oil into the lamps in front of the holy icons and kissed them with reverence, or when she fasted and did not eat food during all holy fasts on Wednesday and Friday, or how many bows she made and prayed at night, or when she turned to God with all her soul and cried about her sins, or when, with complete heartfelt repentance, she confessed her sins to God before her spiritual father and tried to atone for them with good deeds, or when she did some good for her neighbor, or when was not angry with someone who was at enmity with me, or when she suffered some kind of insult and abuse and did not remember them and was not angry for them, or when she repaid good for evil, or when she humbled herself or lamented about someone else’s misfortune, or she herself was sick and endured without complaint , or was ill with another sick person, and consoled someone who was crying, or gave someone a helping hand, or helped in a good deed, or kept someone from doing something bad, or when she did not pay attention to vain matters, or refrained from vain oaths or slander and idle talk, and all others My smallest deeds were collected by the holy Angels, preparing to put them against my sins. The Ethiopians, seeing this, gnashed their teeth, because they wanted to kidnap me from the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell.

At this time, our reverend father Vasily unexpectedly appeared there and said to the holy Angels: “My Lord, this soul served me a lot, calming my old age, and I prayed to God, and He gave it to me.” Having said this, he took out from his bosom a golden bag, all full, as I thought, of pure gold, and gave it to the holy Angels, saying: “When you go through airy ordeals and evil spirits begin to torture this soul, redeem it from its debts with this.” “By the grace of God I am rich, because I have collected many treasures for myself through my labors, and I give this bag to the soul who served me.” Having said this, he disappeared. The crafty demons, seeing this, were in bewilderment and, raising lamentable cries, also disappeared. Then the saint of God, Vasily, came again and brought many vessels with pure oil, expensive myrrh, and, opening each vessel one after another, he poured everything on me, and the fragrance spread from me. Then I realized that I had changed and became especially bright. The saint again turned to the Angels with the following words: “My Lord! When you have completed everything necessary over her, then, having brought her to the abode prepared for me by the Lord, leave her there.” Having said this, he walked away.

Ordeal 1

The Holy Angels took me from the earth and headed up to heaven, ascending as if through the air. And so, on the way, we suddenly met the first ordeal, which is called the ordeal of Idle Talk and Profanity. This is where we stopped. They brought us many scrolls, where all the words that I had spoken since my youth were written down, everything that was said by me thoughtlessly and, moreover, shamefully. All the blasphemous deeds of my youth were immediately written down, as well as cases of idle laughter, to which youth is so prone. I immediately saw the bad words that I had ever spoken, the shameless songs of the world, and the spirits reproached me, pointing out the place and time and persons with whom I engaged in idle conversations and angering God with my words, and did not at all consider it a sin , and therefore did not confess this to her spiritual father. Looking at these scrolls, I was silent, as if speechless, because I had nothing to answer them: everything that was written down by them was the truth. And I was surprised how they hadn’t forgotten anything, because so many years had passed and I myself had forgotten about it a long time ago. They tested me in detail and in the most skillful way, and little by little I remembered everything. But the holy Angels who led me put an end to my ordeal at the first ordeal: they covered my sins, pointing out to the evil one some of my former good deeds, and what was missing from them to cover my sins, they added from the virtues of my father the Monk Basil and redeemed me from the first ordeal, and we moved on.

Ordeal 2

Rising higher to heaven, we have reached the second ordeal, the ordeal of Lies... Here a person gives account for every false word, and mainly for perjury, for invoking the name of the Lord in vain, for false testimonies, for failure to fulfill the vows given to God, for insincere confession of sins and for everything like that, when a person resorts to lies. The spirits in this ordeal are fierce and cruel and especially test those going through this ordeal. When they stopped us, they began to ask me all the details, and I was caught in the fact that I had once lied twice about the smallest things, so that I did not put it into my sin, and also that once - Out of shame, I didn’t tell the whole truth in confession to my spiritual father. Having caught me in a lie, the spirits came to great joy and already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels, but they, to cover the found sins, pointed to my good deeds, and replenished what was missing with the good deeds of my father, the Monk Vasily, and thereby redeemed me from this ordeal, and we went higher without hindrance.

Ordeal 3

We have also reached the third ordeal, the ordeal of Condemnation and Slander. Here, when they stopped us, I saw how seriously the one who condemns his neighbor sins, and how much evil there is when one slanders another, dishonors him, scolds him, when he swears and laughs at the sins of others, not paying attention to his own. Terrible spirits test sinners in this way because they anticipate the dignity of Christ and become judges and destroyers of their neighbors, when they themselves are immeasurably more worthy of condemnation. In this ordeal, by the grace of God, I did not find myself sinful in many ways, because throughout my entire life I was careful not to judge anyone, not to slander anyone, I did not mock anyone, I did not scold anyone; sometimes, just listening to how others condemned their neighbors, slandered them or laughed at them, in my thoughts I partly agreed with them and, through carelessness, added a little of myself to their speeches, but, having come to my senses, I immediately restrained myself. But even this, the spirits who tested me, put me into sin, and only through the merits of St. Basil did the holy Angels free me from this ordeal, and we went higher.

Ordeal 4

Continuing our journey, we reached the fourth ordeal, the ordeal of Unification and Drunkenness. Bad spirits ran out to meet us, rejoicing that a new victim was coming to them. The appearance of these spirits was ugly: they portrayed different types of voluptuous gluttons and vile drunkards; They carried dishes and bowls with food and various drinks. The food and drink were also vile in appearance, resembling stinking pus and vomit. The spirits of this ordeal seemed satiated and drunk, they galloped with music in their hands and did everything that feasting people usually do, and cursed at the souls of sinners they brought to the ordeal. These spirits, like dogs, surrounded us, stopped and began to show all my sins of this kind: did I ever eat secretly, or through force and beyond the need, or in the morning, like a pig, without prayer and the sign of the cross, or did I eat during holy fasts? before the time appointed by the church charter, or due to intemperance she ate before lunch, or during lunch she was over-filled. They also calculated my drunkenness, showing the cups and vessels from which I drank, and directly said: you drank so many cups at such and such a time, and at such and such a feast, with such and such people; and in another place I drank so much and reached the point of unconsciousness and vomiting, and so many times I feasted and danced to music, clapping my hands, sang songs and jumped, and when they brought you home, I was exhausted from immeasurable drunkenness; The wicked spirits also showed me those cups from which I sometimes drank in the morning and on fasting days for the sake of guests, or when, out of weakness, I drank to the point of intoxication and did not consider it a sin and did not repent, but on the contrary, I also tempted others to do the same. They also pointed out to me when on Sundays it happened to me to drink before the Holy Liturgy, and they pointed out many similar things to me from my sins of gluttony and rejoiced, already considering me in their power, and intended to take me to the bottom of hell; I, seeing myself exposed and not having anything to say against them, trembled. But the holy Angels, having borrowed his good deeds from the treasury of St. Basil, covered my sins and removed them from the power of those evil spirits. Seeing this, they raised a cry: “Woe to us! Our labors are lost! Our hope is gone!” - and they began to throw packages through the air where my sins were written; I was glad, and then we went from there without any hindrance.

During the journey to the next ordeal, the holy Angels had a conversation with each other. They said: “This soul truly receives great help from the saint of God Vasily: if his prayers did not help her, she would have to experience great need, going through the ordeals of the air.”

This is what the Angels accompanying me said, and I took it upon myself to ask them: “My Lords, it seems to me that no one living on earth knows what happens here, and what awaits the sinful soul after death?” The Holy Angels answered me: “Are the Divine Scriptures, always read in churches and preached by the servants of God, saying little about this! Only those addicted to earthly vanity do not pay attention to this, finding a special charm in eating daily to satiety and getting drunk, doing thus the belly with their god, not thinking about the future life and forgetting the words of Scripture: Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry, and you who are drunk, because you will thirst. They consider the Holy Scriptures to be fables and live in neglect of their souls, feasting with songs and music. every day, like the rich man of the gospel, they rejoice brightly. But those who are merciful and merciful, do good to the poor and needy - these receive forgiveness of their sins from God and for their alms they go through ordeals without special torture, according to the word of Scripture: alms delivers from death and death. forgives all sin. Those who do alms and righteousness are filled with life, but those who do not try to cleanse their sins with alms cannot escape these trials, and the dark-shaped princes of the ordeals that you saw kidnap them and, cruelly torturing them, take them to the bottom of hell and keep them there. in bonds until the Last Judgment of Christ. And it would have been impossible for you to avoid this if not for the treasury of good deeds of St. Basil, from which your sins were covered."

Ordeal 5

In such a conversation, we reached the fifth ordeal, the ordeal of Laziness, in which a person gives an answer for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites also linger here, feeding on the labors of others and not wanting to do anything themselves, or taking payment for work not completed. There they also ask for an account from those who do not care about the glory of the name of God and are lazy on holidays and Sundays to go to the Divine Liturgy and other services of God. Here, both worldly and spiritual people experience negligence and despondency, laziness and carelessness about their souls, and many from here are led into the abyss. They tested me a lot here, and if it weren’t for the virtues of St. Basil, who made up for the lack of my good deeds, then I would not have been freed from the debt to the evil spirits of this ordeal for my sins; but they covered everything, and I was taken out of there.

Ordeal 6

We have come to the sixth ordeal - Theft. We were detained in it for a short time, and few good deeds were required to cover my sins, because I did not commit theft, except for one, very small one, in childhood due to foolishness.

Ordeal 7

We went through the seventh ordeal, Love of Money and Stinginess, without delay, because, by the grace of God, I never in my life cared about much acquisition and was not avarice-loving, I was content with what God gave, and was not stingy, but what I had, diligently distributed to those in need.

Ordeal 8

Ascending higher, we entered the eighth ordeal, the ordeal of Extortion, where those who give their money at interest and thereby receive unrighteous gains are tested. Here those who appropriate for themselves what belongs to others give an account. The crafty spirits of this ordeal thoroughly searched me, and not finding any sin behind me, they gnashed their teeth; We, having thanked God, went higher.

Ordeal 9

We have reached the ninth ordeal, the ordeal of Untruth, where all unrighteous judges are tortured, who conduct their trial for money, acquit the guilty, condemn the innocent; here those who do not pay due wages to mercenaries or use the wrong measure when trading, etc., are tortured. But we, by the grace of God, passed this ordeal without any hindrance, covering my sins of this kind with only a few good deeds.

Ordeal 10

We also successfully passed the next tenth ordeal, called the ordeal of Envy. I didn’t have any sins of this kind at all, because I never envied. And although other sins were experienced here: dislike, brotherly hatred, enmity, hatred, but, by the mercy of God, I turned out to be innocent of all these sins and saw how the demons furiously gnashed their teeth, but I was not afraid of them, and, rejoicing, we went higher.

Ordeal 11

We met the eleventh ordeal, where the sins of Pride are tested, where arrogant and proud spirits test those who are vain, think a lot about themselves and are proud; The souls of those who are disrespectful to their father and mother, as well as to the authorities appointed by God, are especially carefully tested here: cases of disobedience to them, and other acts of pride, and vain words are considered. I needed very, very few good deeds to cover my sins during this ordeal, and I received freedom.

Ordeal 12

Ascending further to heaven, we met the twelfth ordeal, the ordeal of Wrath. Happy is the man who, while living, did not experience anger. And so again the oldest of the evil spirits was here and sat on the throne, filled with anger, rage and pride. With rage and anger, he ordered his servants who were there to torment and torture me. The latter, like dogs, licking their lips, began to inform on me not only about everything that I really had ever said with rage or anger, or to whom I had harmed with a word, but also about the fact that I had once looked at my children with anger or severely punished them. They presented all this very vividly, even indicating the time when what happened, and the faces of those on whom I once poured out my anger. And, repeating even my actual words that I said then, they said in front of what people I said it. The Angels responded to all this by giving from the ark, and we went higher.

Ordeal 13

We have encountered the thirteenth ordeal - Grudges. Like robbers, evil spirits jumped up to us and, testing me, wanted to find something written in their charters, but since, through the prayer of St. Basil, they did not find anything, they began to weep. I was sinful in many ways, but I had love for everyone - both great and small, I never offended anyone, I never remembered evil, I never took revenge on others for evil. We continued on without stopping.

On the way, I asked the holy Angels who led me: “My Lords, I ask you, tell me how these terrible air powers know all the evil deeds of all the people who live in the world, just like mine, and not only reveal those created, but also which only the one who did them knows?” The Holy Angels answered me: “Every Christian, from the very Holy Baptism, receives from God a Guardian Angel, who invisibly protects a person and throughout his life, even until the hour of death, instructs in all good and all these good deeds that a person does during his life.” earthly life, writes down so that he can receive mercy from the Lord for them and eternal reward in the Kingdom of Heaven. So the prince of darkness, who wants to destroy the human race, assigns to each person one of the evil spirits, who always walks after a person and watches everything about him. from youth, evil deeds, encouraging them with his intrigues, and collects everything that a person has done that is bad. Then he takes all these sins to the ordeal, recording each one in the appropriate place. Hence, the air princes know all the sins of all the people who live in the world. When the soul is separated from the body and strives to ascend to heaven to its Creator, then evil spirits hinder it, showing lists of its sins, and if the soul has more good deeds than sins, then they cannot restrain it; when there are more sins on her than good deeds, then they hold her for a while, imprison her in the prison of God’s ignorance and torture her, as far as the power of God allows them, until the soul, through the prayers of the Church and relatives, receives freedom. If any soul turns out to be so sinful and unworthy before God that all hope for its salvation is lost and it is threatened with eternal death, then it is brought down into the abyss, where it remains until the second coming of the Lord, when eternal torment begins for it in fiery hell. Know also that only the souls of those who are enlightened by holy baptism are tested in this way. Those who do not believe in Christ, idolaters and, in general, everyone who does not know the true God do not ascend this way, because during earthly life they are alive only in body, and in soul are already buried in hell. And when they die, the demons, without any testing, take their souls and bring them down to Gehenna and the abyss."

Ordeal 14

While I was talking in this way with the holy Angels, we came to the fourteenth ordeal - the ordeal of Robbery. Here, not only robbery is tormented, but they demand an account for any punishment inflicted on someone, for any blow on the shoulders or head, on the cheek or neck, or when someone angrily pushes his neighbor away from him. Evil spirits experience all this here in detail and weigh it; We went through this ordeal without hindrance, leaving a small part of good deeds to cover my sins.

Ordeal 15

We passed through the fifteenth ordeal without hindrance, the ordeal of Sorcery, charm, poisoning, and invoking demons. The spirits of this ordeal are similar in appearance to four-legged reptiles, scorpions, snakes and toads; in a word, it’s scary and disgusting to look at them. By the grace of God, the spirits of this ordeal did not find a single similar sin in me, and we moved on; the spirits shouted after me with rage: “Let's see how you leave the prodigal places when you get there!”

When we began to ascend higher, I asked the Angels who were leading me: “My Lord, do all Christians go through these ordeals and is it possible for anyone to pass here without torture and fear?” The Holy Angels answered me: “For the souls of believers ascending to heaven, there is no other way - everyone goes here, but not everyone is tested in ordeals like you, but only sinners like you, that is, those who, out of shame, did not sincerely open to the spiritual father of all his sins in confession. If someone sincerely repents of all sins, then by the mercy of God the sins are invisibly blotted out, and when such a soul passes here, the airy torturers open their books and find nothing written behind it; they can frighten her, cause her something unpleasant, and the soul ascends in joy to the throne of grace. And you, if you repented of everything before your spiritual father and received permission from him, would avoid the horrors of going through ordeals; that you long ago stopped committing mortal sins and spent many years leading a virtuous life, and that the prayers of St. Basil, whom you diligently served on earth, help you the most.”

Ordeal 16

We walked and talked. Imperceptibly, the sixteenth ordeal appeared before us - the ordeal of Fornication, where a person is tortured for all fornication and for all sorts of impure passionate thoughts, for consenting to sin, for bad touches and passionate touches. The prince of this ordeal sat on the throne dressed in stinking, nasty clothes, sprinkled with bloody foam and replacing him with a royal scarlet robe; many demons stood before him. When they saw me, they were surprised that I had reached their ordeal, and they brought out scrolls in which my fornication was written down, began to count them, indicating the persons with whom I sinned in my youth, and the time when I sinned, i.e. day or night, and the place where she committed the sin. I couldn’t answer them and stood there, trembling with shame and fear. The Holy Angels, who were leading me, began to say to the demons: “She has long since left the life of prodigal life and has spent all this time in purity and abstinence.” The demons answered: “And we know that she stopped leading a prodigal life, but she did not reveal it to her spiritual father and did not bear penance from him to atone for her previous sins - therefore she is ours, and you either leave or redeem her with good deeds.” . The Holy Angels pointed out many of my good deeds, and even more with the good deeds of St. Basil they covered my sins, and I barely got rid of severe misfortune. We moved on.

Ordeal 17

The next ordeal, the seventeenth, was the ordeal of Adultery, where the sins of those living in marriage are tortured: if someone did not maintain marital fidelity, or desecrated his bed, he must give an account here. Those who sin in abduction for fornication and violence are also tortured here. Here they test persons who dedicated themselves to God and took a vow of chastity, but did not keep their vow and fell into fornication; the torture of these is especially terrible. At this ordeal I turned out to be a lot of sinners, I was caught in adultery, and evil spirits already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell. But the holy Angels argued a lot with them and barely redeemed me, leaving all my good deeds here until the last and adding a lot from the treasury of St. Basil. And taking me from them, they went further.

Ordeal 18

We then appeared at the eighteenth ordeal - the ordeal of Sodom, where all unnatural prodigal sins and incest are tortured, and in general all the most vile, secretly committed deeds, about which, according to the word of the Apostle, it is shameful to even speak (Eph. 5:12). I was not guilty of the sins of this ordeal, and we soon passed it.

When we rose higher, the holy Angels said to me: “You have seen the terrible and disgusting ordeals of fornication. Know that a rare soul passes them freely: the whole world is immersed in the evil of temptations and defilements, almost all people are voluptuous; the thought of the human heart is evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21) There are few who mortify carnal lusts and few who would freely pass by these ordeals. Most of them, having reached here, perish. Thank God, Theodora, that you passed through these prodigal torturers with the prayers of your father, the Monk Vasily, you will no longer see fear.”

Ordeal 19

After the prodigal ordeals, we came to the nineteenth ordeal, which is called Idolatry and all kinds of heresies, where people are tortured for incorrect opinions about objects of faith, as well as for apostasy from the Orthodox faith, distrust of the true teaching, doubts in the faith, blasphemy and the like. I went through this ordeal without stopping, and we were already not far from the gates of heaven.

Ordeal 20

But before we reached the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, we encountered the twentieth ordeal, which is called the ordeal of Unmercy and Cruelty. The torturers of this ordeal are especially cruel, especially their prince. In appearance, he is dry, sad, and in his rage he suffocates with merciless fire. In this ordeal, the souls of the merciless are tested without any mercy. And if someone turns out to have accomplished many feats, strictly observed fasts, was vigilant in prayer, preserved purity of heart and mortified the flesh with abstinence, but was unmerciful, unmerciful, deaf to the pleas of his neighbor - he is brought down from this ordeal, imprisoned in the hellish abyss and does not receive forgiveness forever. But we, through the prayers of St. Basil, who helped me everywhere with his good deeds, passed through this ordeal without hindrance.

After the ordeal

This ended a series of aerial ordeals, and we joyfully approached the gates of heaven. These gates were as bright as crystal, and a radiance that could not be described was visible all around; Sun-shaped youths shone in them, who, seeing me, led by the Angels to the heavenly gates, were filled with joy because I, covered by the mercy of God, had gone through all the airy ordeals. They kindly greeted us and led us inside.

What I saw and heard there, Gregory - it’s impossible to describe! I was brought to the Throne of the unapproachable glory of God, which was surrounded by Cherubim, Seraphim and many heavenly armies, praising God with ineffable songs; I fell on my face and bowed to the invisible and inaccessible to the human mind Divinity. Then the heavenly powers sang a sweet song praising the mercy of God, which cannot be exhausted by the sins of people, and a voice was heard commanding the Angels who were leading me to take me to see the abodes of the saints, as well as all the torments of sinners, and then to calm me down in the monastery prepared for the blessed one. Vasily. At this command, I was taken everywhere, and I saw villages and abodes filled with glory and grace, prepared for those who love God. Those who led me showed me separately the monasteries of the Apostles, and the monasteries of the Prophets, and the monasteries of the Martyrs, and the monasteries of the Holy Hierarchs, and special monasteries for each rank of saints. Each monastery was distinguished by its extraordinary beauty, and in length and width I could compare each one with Constantinople, if only they were not even better and did not have many bright, not made by hand rooms. Everyone who was there, seeing me, rejoiced at my salvation, met and kissed me, glorifying God, who delivered me from the evil one.

When we walked around these monasteries, I was brought down to the underworld, and there I saw the unbearable terrible torment that was prepared in hell for sinners. Showing them, the Angels who led me said to me: “You see, Theodora, from what torment, through the prayers of Saint Basil, the Lord delivered you.” I heard screams and crying and bitter sobs there; some groaned, others exclaimed angrily: alas for us! There were those who cursed their birthday, but there was no one who took pity on them. Having finished examining the places of torment, the Angels took me out of there and brought me to the monastery of St. Basil, saying to me: “Now St. Basil is commemorating you.” Then I realized that I had come to this place of peace forty days after my separation from the body.

So, now, my spiritual child Gregory, after forty days of separation of my soul from my body, I am in this place, which is prepared for our venerable father Vasily. You are still in the world and so is Saint Basil. He instructs everyone who comes to him on the path of truth and, forcing them to repent, turns many to the Lord. Follow me, we will enter my inner peace in which I am, and you will examine it. The Monk Vasily was here recently before your arrival.

I followed her and we went in there together. As we walked, I saw that her vestments were white as snow. We entered the palace, which was decorated with gold. In the middle of it were various trees with beautiful fruits and, looking to the east, I saw luxurious chambers, light and tall. There was a large refectory table, on which stood golden vessels, very expensive, causing surprise. These vessels contained vegetables of different varieties, and wonderful fragrances emanated from them. The Monk Vasily was also here. He sat on a wonderful throne. Here, near the meal, people were reclining, but not the kind who live on earth and who have a body, no! They were surrounded, as it were, by the rays of the sun, but they only had a human image. When they ate from this meal, it was filled again. Beautiful young men served them all food. When one of those reclining at the meal wanted to drink, then, pouring the drink into his mouth, he experienced spiritual sweetness. They spent long hours eating. The young men who served them were girded with gold belts, and on their heads were crowns made of expensive stone. Theodora, approaching the monk, prayed to him for me. The monk, looking at me, joyfully called me to him. I approached and bowed to him, as usual, to the ground. He quietly told me: “God will have mercy on you and forgive you, my child! He, the All-Merciful, will reward you with all heavenly blessings.” Lifting me from the ground, he continued: “Here is Theodora. You asked me so much about this - now you see her, where she is and what fate her soul has received in this afterlife. Look now at her.”

Theodora, looking at me with joy, said: “Brother Gregory! The merciful Lord, for thinking humbly about me, has fulfilled your desire, thanks to the prayer of our venerable father Vasily.” The monk, turning to Theodora, said to her: “Go with him and show me my garden. Let him see its beauty.” Taking me by the right hand, she led me to the wall in which there was a golden gate and, opening it, led me inside the garden.

I saw wonderfully beautiful trees there: their leaves were golden, they were decorated with flowers and emitted an unusually pleasant aroma. There were countless such beautiful trees, and their branches bowed to the ground from the weight of the fruit. I was amazed by all this. Theodora, turning to me, asked: “Why are you surprised? Now, if you saw the garden, which is called paradise, which the Lord Himself planted in the east, how surprised would you be?! You would probably be amazed at its grandeur and beauty. This one is against paradise nothing..." I begged Theodora to tell me who planted this garden. I have never seen anything like this... She answered that I could not see anything like this, since I am still on earth, but here everything is unearthly, and they lead an unearthly life here.

Only the life full of work and sweat that our reverend father Vasily led from youth to old age, only the intense prayers and hardships that he endured, sleeping on the bare ground, often enduring heat and frost, sometimes eating only grass before entering he is in Constantinople - only such an ascetic life served to save himself and through him many of the people. Only for such a life and for the prayers of such ascetics does God give these abodes in the afterlife. Whoever endures a lot of sorrows and misfortunes in his earthly life, who strictly guards the commandments of the Lord and fulfills them exactly, receives reward and consolation in the afterlife. The holy psalmist David said: Bear the fruits of your labors.

When Theodora said that life in heaven is different from life on earth, I involuntarily felt myself, as if wanting to find out if I was still in the flesh, and, of course, I was convinced of this. My feelings and thoughts were pure, and my spirit rejoiced at everything I saw. I wanted to return to the palace through the same gates through which I entered. When I entered there, I found no one at lunch. Having bowed to Theodora, I returned home.

And at that very moment I woke up and thought: “Where was I? What was all that I saw and heard?” Rising from my bed, I went to Saint Basil to find out from him whether this vision was from God or from demons. Arriving at him, I bowed to the ground. He blessed me, ordered me to sit near him and asked: “Do you know, child, where you were that night?” Posing as if I didn’t know, I answered: “I haven’t been anywhere, father, I was sleeping on my bed.” The monk said: “It’s true, you really rested in body on your bed, but in spirit you were in another place and you know everything that was shown to you that night. You saw Theodora. When you approached the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom, she greeted you with joy, I brought you inside this house, showed you everything, told you about my death and all the ordeals that I went through. Was it not at my command that you went into the courtyard, where you saw a wonderful meal and its wonderful arrangement? Didn’t you see the vegetables there: what is their sweetness? , what are the colors, what is the drink and what kind of young men served at the table? Didn’t you stand, looking at the beauty of these chambers? When I came, didn’t I show you Theodora, whom you wanted to see, so that you could learn from her what she received for her? pious life? Didn’t she take you at my command and didn’t she bring you into the Holy City? Wasn’t this what you saw this night?

When I heard this from the saint, I no longer doubted at all that it was not a dream, that it was not a dream, but a real vision sent by the Lord God. I thought to myself: “How great is this righteous man with God, who was there both body and soul, and he knows everything I saw and heard!”

I shed tears and said: “It’s true, holy father, everything was as you said. And I thank the Lord, the Lover of Mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ, who made me worthy to see all this and instructed me to resort to you in order to constantly be under the protection of your prayers and enjoy the vision of such great wonders."

The saint told me: “If, child Gregory, you complete your life’s path correctly, without deviating from the Divine commandments, then after death the evil spirits living in the ordeals of the air will not have time to do anything to you, as you yourself heard from Theodora. Having gone through the ordeals, you will be blessed and you will be received with joy where you were recently in spirit and where you saw Theodora, where I, a great sinner, hoping in Christ, who promised to give me His grace, think I will receive the abode you saw.”

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The Ordeal of Blessed Theodora

With the blessing of Metropolitan Vladimir of Tashkent and Central Asia

The Ordeal of Blessed Theodora

In the Holy Tradition, in agreement with the Holy Scriptures, we find the teaching about ordeals (Orthodox Confession, part 2, answer to question 25). The essence of the doctrine of ordeals is expounded by St. Cyril of Alexandria in the word “On the Exodus of the Soul.” Ordeal is the inevitable path by which all human souls, both evil and good, make their transition from temporary earthly life to an eternal lot. During the ordeals, the soul, in the presence of Angels and demons, but also before the eye of the all-seeing Judge God, is tested in all deeds, words and thoughts. Good souls, justified in ordeals, are ascended by Angels to the heavenly abodes for the beginning of eternal bliss, and sinful souls, detained in one or another ordeal, are drawn by demons to their dark abodes for the beginning of eternal torment.

Thus, ordeals are a private judgment carried out invisibly on every human soul by the Lord Himself through His Angels, including evil tax collectors and accusers - demons. In the life of Rev. Vasily the New is told that his student, Rev. Gregory was revealed in detail in a vision both the circumstances of the hour of death and the journey through the ordeals of St. Theodora (Dec. 8). Here the 20 ordeals are calculated in detail.

Careful familiarization with the ordeals is useful for more thorough preparation for confession, testing your conscience, and gaining a repentant mood.

This is what blessed Theodora told about when she appeared after death to her disciple, St. Vasily the New Rev. Gregory (Ch.M. March 26).

“When the hour of separation from the body came for me, I saw many demons in the form of black Ethiopians (blacks, black people) standing near my bed. They gnashed their teeth as if they wanted to devour me. They unrolled scrolls in which all my sins were written down. My poor soul was in fear and trembling. The sight of demons was worse for me than death itself. I turned here and there, but I could not help but see them and hear their voices. Exhausted to the end, I finally saw two bright Angels of God who approached me in the form of beautiful young men. Their clothes shone with light, and they were girded on their chests with golden belts. Approaching my bed, they stood on the right side, quietly talking to each other, and I was happy and looked at them cheerfully. At the sight of them, the demons shuddered and retreated. Then one of the Angels sternly told them: “O shameless, damned and evil enemies of the human race! Why are you always in a hurry to come to the dying and with your screams you confuse the soul that is being separated from the body? Don’t rejoice, you won’t find anything for yourself here: God had mercy on this soul, and you have nothing in common with it!” The demons screamed furiously and began to show records of the evil deeds I had done from my youth, saying: “We don’t have anything to do with her? Whose sins are these? Wasn’t she the one who created them?” - shouting in this way, they waited for my death. And then the last breath left my lips, the bright Angels took my soul in their hands. I looked back and saw that my body was lying without feeling or movement. Just as if someone had taken off his clothes and looked at them, so I looked at my body and was very surprised at it. While the Angels were holding me, the demons surrounded us and shouted: “This soul has many sins, let him answer for them!” The Holy Angels collected everything that I had ever done good, the slightest good deeds, one after another, the Angels collected and prepared to put them against my evil deeds. The demons, looking at this, gnashed their teeth at me and wanted to immediately snatch me from the hands of the angels and bring me down to the bottom of hell. At this very time, the Rev. Father Vasily suddenly appeared (with whom, after the death of her husband, St. Theodora lived in the service, who devoted herself to serving her neighbors and prayer and accepted monasticism before her death) and said to the Angels: “Holy Angels! This soul served a lot for the repose of my old age, and therefore I prayed to God for her, and God gave her to me.”

Having said this, he took out from his bosom a kind of bag of gold and gave it to the Angels with the words: “This is the treasure of my prayers before the Lord for this soul. When you go through airy ordeals and crafty spirits begin to torment her, then redeem her with this from her debts.” After this he became invisible, and the Angels took me, and we went east through the air.

When we walked from the earth to the heights of heaven, we were first met by air spirits 1st ordeal, where the sins of idle talk, that is, reckless and nasty conversations, are tortured. We stopped, and many scrolls were brought out in front of us, in which were written down all the words that I had spoken indecently and recklessly from my youth, and especially if they expressed something shameful or blasphemous, as is often the case in the language of young people. I saw written down there all my idle words, shameless songs, disorderly screams, laughter and laughter. With all this, the small spirits denounced me, pointing out the time and place when, where, with whom I engaged in vain conversation and angered God with my obscene words, not considering it a sin, and therefore did not confess to my spiritual father and did not repent. I was silent, as if speechless, not being able to answer, because the evil spirits convicted me correctly. When I was silent, ashamed and trembling with fear, the holy Angels put in some of my good deeds, and filled up what was missing from the treasure given by Father Basil, and with this they ransomed me. “When will the Angels present good deeds for the justification of the soul,” says St. John of Damascus in the Word about those who fell asleep in the faith - and the evil spirits will remember the same number of sins to condemn her and there will be balance, then God’s love for mankind will prevail. The same mercy of God sometimes makes up for the lack of good deeds against the preponderance of evil ones.”

From there we went higher and approached 2 -th ordeal- lies, on which every false word is tortured, i.e., perjury, invoking the name of God in vain, false witness, failure to fulfill the vows given to God, insincere and untrue confession of sins, and the like. The spirits of this ordeal are evil and ferocious; they stopped us and began to test me in detail. But I was convicted by them only of the fact that sometimes I lied about unimportant things and did not consider it a sin. But perjury, perjury and other important iniquities were not found in me.

We have reached 3rd ordeal, tormenting condemnation and slander. Then they stopped us, and I realized how grave the sin of judging one’s neighbor is and how great the evil is to slander someone, dishonor, blaspheme, scold and laugh at the shortcomings of others. Such sinners are tortured by fierce demons as opponents of Christ, who have anticipated the right to judge others. But, by the grace of Christ, a few of these sins were found in me; all the days of my life I tried to refrain from them.

We've reached 4th ordeal- gluttony, and immediately evil spirits ran out to meet us. Their faces were similar to the faces of voluptuous gluttons and vile drunkards. Walking around us like dogs, they immediately showed us the count of all the cases of my overeating, when I ate secretly, or beyond need, or without praying in the morning, or at least without protecting myself with the sign of the cross, when I ate during holy fasts before the service. They also presented all the cases of my drunkenness, they even showed the very bowls, glasses and other vessels from which I got drunk at such and such a time, at such and such a feast, with such and such interlocutors. And they showed all my gluttony in detail and rejoiced, as if they had already got me into their hands. I trembled, seeing my reproof, and did not know what to answer in spite of it. But the Angels, having taken enough from the gifts of St. Vasily, put it against my sins and ransomed me. Seeing the ransom, the evil spirits cried out: “Woe to us! Our efforts have been lost!” - and threw their notes about my gluttony into the air.

I dared to say to my guides: “It seems to me, holy Angels, that no one living on earth knows what is happening here and what awaits the soul after death.” But the Angels answered me: “Doesn’t the Divine Scripture testify to all this to people? Only people addicted to earthly vanity neglect it, forgetting the fear of God. However, whoever is merciful to the poor and helps the wretched easily receives forgiveness of his sins from God and, for the sake of his mercy, goes through all the ordeals without stopping. And whoever does not try to cleanse his sins with alms, it is impossible for him to avoid the dark tax collectors, who bring the souls of those who have sinned to hell and keep them in bonds until the terrible Judgment of Christ.”

In this conversation we came to 5th ordeal- laziness, where sinners are tortured for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites who lived on the labors of others, but did not work themselves, and mercenaries, who took wages but did not fulfill the duties they had assumed, are also detained here. Here those who neglect the glorification of God and are lazy on Sundays and holidays to go to church for Matins, Liturgy and other services are also tortured. There, a general negligence of both worldly and spiritual people and carelessness about their souls is experienced, and many from there are relegated to the abyss. And I was tested there a lot, and it would have been impossible for me to be freed from debts if the Angels had not made up for my shortcomings with the gifts of St. Vasily.

On 6th ordeal- theft, although we stopped for a while, but, having given a little ransom, we went further, because theft did not occur to me, except for very unimportant cases in my childhood.

7th ordeal- love of money and stinginess, we passed without delay, because, by the grace of God, I never in my life cared about much acquisition and was not a lover of money, I was content with what God gave, and was not stingy, but what I had, I diligently distributed poor.

Rising even higher, we met 8th ordeals o - extortion, where they torture those who give money for illegal interest and all those who profit at the expense of their neighbors, bribe-takers and appropriators of others. The torturers, not finding covetousness in me, gnashed their teeth in frustration, and we, thanking God, went higher.

9th ordeal- untruths, where unjust judges are tortured, who out of self-interest acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent, as well as people who do not give mercenaries the agreed payment or in trade use power or measure incorrectly, and in general everyone who commits any injustice, we, by the grace of God, passed safely .

10th ordeal- envy, we passed without paying anything, because I have never been envious. They are immediately tortured for dislike, brotherly hatred, unfriendliness and hatred, but, by the mercy of Christ God, I turned out to be innocent of these sins, and although I saw the rage of the demons gnashing against me, I was no longer afraid of them - and we, rejoicing, went higher.

11th ordeal- pride, where arrogant spirits torture for vanity, arrogance, contempt for others and grandeur, for failure to give due honor to parents, government and authorities appointed by God, and for disobedience to them, we also passed freely.

At the 12th ordeal- anger and rage, the aerial torturers, although very fierce, received little from us, and we moved on, rejoicing in the Lord.

At the 13th ordeal- resentment, where those who harbor malice against their neighbor in their hearts and repay evil for evil are tested without mercy, the mercy of the Lord saved me, because there was no resentment in me, here we did not pay anything and, rejoicing in the Lord, we moved on.

Then I dared to ask the Angels who were leading me: “Tell me: how do these terrible rulers of the air know in such detail all the evil deeds of people, not only obvious, but also secret?” “Every Christian,” answered the Angels, “after holy baptism receives from God a Guardian Angel, who instructs him in every good deed and records all his good deeds, for which a person can receive mercy and reward from God. And the prince of darkness also appoints one of the evil spirits so that, walking after a person, he encourages him with his machinations to evil deeds and writes down everything bad that a person does. Such an evil spirit carries all the sins of a person through ordeals, and that is why they are known to the demons. When the soul is separated from the body and wants to go to its Creator in heaven, then evil spirits prevent it on this path, showing it (like you) the sins it has committed. If a soul has more good deeds than sins, then they cannot hold it, and if there are more sins, then they hold the soul for a while, shut it in prison so that it does not see God, and torture it as much as the power of God allows them, until that soul, through the prayers of the Church and the alms of neighbors, receives forgiveness. If such a soul turns out to be so sinful and unclean before God that there will be no hope of salvation for it, then evil spirits will immediately bring it down to the abyss of hell. There the lost souls are kept until the second coming of the Lord and then, after being united with their bodies, they will suffer together with the devils in fiery Gehenna. Only those enlightened by holy faith and baptism ascend through ordeals and are tested; non-believers do not come here at all, because even before separation from the body, their souls belong to hell, and when they die, the demons, without any testing, take their souls as belonging to them the prey and are brought down into the abyss of hell.”

By talking like this, we reached 14th ordeal- murder, in which they are tortured not only for robbery, but also for every wound, for every blow inflicted, for shoving with anger and shoving. Having given little here, we moved on.

Passed by 15th ordeal- sorcery, charm, poisoning, summoning demons. By the grace of God, the demons did not find anything in me here, and we moved on, accompanied by the evil cry of the demons: “You will come to the ordeal of fornication, we will see how you are freed from there!”

When we rose higher, I also dared to ask the Angels: “Do all Christians go through these ordeals and is it possible to go through them without trials?” The angels answered: “There is no other way for souls ascending to heaven, everyone follows this road, but not everyone is as tortured as you and sinners like you, who make an incomplete confession of their sins, hiding their shameful deeds from their confessor out of false shame. Whoever sincerely tells in confession all his evil deeds and regrets what he has done, his sins are invisibly covered by God’s mercy. And then every repentant soul comes here, the aerial torturers, having opened their books, do not find anything written in them, and such a soul, rejoicing, ascends to the throne of God. It helped you a lot that you stopped sinning mortally a long time ago and spent the last years of your life virtuously, and the prayers of St. Vasily, whom you served a lot.”

Prince 16th terrible ordeal- fornication, where prodigal dreams are tortured, mental pleasure in that, lascivious views, vicious touches and passionate touches, he was clothed in unclean and stinking clothes, and many demons stood around him. Seeing me, they were surprised that I had already gone through so many ordeals and, bringing out notes about all my fornication, they denounced me, pointing to persons and places, at the time, with whom, when and where I sinned in my youth. I was silent and trembled with shame and fear, but the Angels said to the demons: “She has long abandoned fornication and has recently lived in purity, abstinence and fasting.” And the demons answered: “And we know this, but she insincerely confessed her prodigal sins to her confessor and did not receive from him the proper commandment about satisfaction for sins, therefore she is ours! Either leave it to us, or redeem it with good deeds.” The angels contributed many of my good deeds, and even more from the gifts of St. Vasily, and I barely got rid of severe misfortune.

IN 17th ordeal– adultery, where the sins of people living in marriage, but not maintaining marital fidelity, desecrating their bed with fornication, are also tortured, as well as fornication and violence, the fornication of persons who dedicated themselves to God, but did not maintain purity, is severely tortured. And I owed a lot during this ordeal; the evil spirits had already denounced me and wanted to snatch me from the hands of the Angels, and the Angels, arguing with them for a long time, barely redeemed me - not so much with my good deeds, which laid everything here to the last, but with the treasure of St. Vasily, whom they also put a lot on the scales against my iniquities and, taking me, went further.

Prince 18th ordeal- the sins of Sodom, on which all unnatural sins, incest and other nasty deeds are tortured, committed secretly, which a person is ashamed and afraid to even remember, was more disgusting than all the demons, stained with pus and stench, so are all his servants, the stench from them was unbearable, the malignity unimaginable, the rage and cruelty inexpressible. Having surrounded us, but, by the grace of God, not finding anything in me, they ran away from us in shame, and we moved on.

And the Angels said to me: “Have you seen, Theodora, the terrible and vile ordeals of prodigaldom? Know that few souls pass them without stopping and ransoming, because the whole world lies in the evil of temptations and defilement, and all people are voluptuous. Few people protect themselves from the impurities of prodigals and mortify their carnal lust. Therefore, many people, having reached the ordeal of prodigy, die here. The leaders of the prodigal ordeals boast that they, more than all other torturers, fill the fiery abyss of hell with the souls of people. And you thank God that you went through the tortures of fornication, through the prayers of your spiritual father Vasily, and you will no longer see fear!”

After this we came to 19th ordeal- heresies, where wrong wisdom about faith, apostasy from the Orthodox confession of faith, unbelief, doubt about faith, and censure of sacred things are tortured.

I went through this ordeal without testing, and now we were not far from the gates of heaven.

But we were met by the evil spirits of the latter, 20th ordeal- unmercifulness and cruelty. The torturers here are cruel, and their prince is cruel, seemingly dry and dull. If someone performed the greatest feats, exhausted himself with fasts, prayed unceasingly and maintained bodily purity, but was unmerciful, such a person from this final ordeal is cast into the abyss of hell and does not receive mercy forever. But we, by the grace of Christ, passed comfortably through this place, with the help of the prayers of St. Vasily.

Having got rid of the terrible ordeals, we joyfully approached the gates of heaven. They were shining wonderfully. In them stood young men as bright as the sun, who, seeing me with the Angels, rejoiced that by the mercy of God I had gotten rid of the air ordeals, and, welcoming us, led me inside. But what I saw there and what I heard, child Gregory, cannot even be expressed. I saw what the eye of man had never seen, and I heard what the ear had never heard, and what no one living on earth had the desire or imagination to imagine.

And I was brought (on the 3rd day after leaving my body) to the throne of God’s unapproachable glory, surrounded by Cherubim, Seraphim and many heavenly armies, constantly praising God with unspeakable songs. Having fallen, I bowed to the invisible and incomprehensible God, and the heavenly powers sang a sweet song, glorifying God’s mercy, which is not defeated by human sins. And a voice came from God, commanding the Angels who brought me to show me all the monasteries of saints and then all the torments of sinners, after which they would place me in the monastery of St. Vasily. So, for six days (according to the revelation of the Angel to St. Macarius of Alexandria) they took me everywhere, and I saw beautiful monasteries of the apostles, prophets, martyrdoms, hierarchs, etc. All of them were of indescribable beauty and spaciousness, and everywhere I heard the voice of spiritual joy and joy, everywhere I saw the triumph of the saints.

After walking around the bright abodes (and after the second worship of God, on the ninth day after my death - according to the revelation of the Angel to St. Macarius of Alexandria), I was brought down to the underworld and saw there the terrible and unbearable torment of sinners. I heard the screams, crying and sobbing of those who were suffering there. Some of them screamed terribly and cursed the day of their birth, but no one showed them mercy. Through these various places of torment and sections of hell, the human soul rushes for thirty days, trembling and shuddering, so that it itself does not be imprisoned in them. On the 11th day of walking through hell, or on the 20th day after the death of a person, half the time the soul walks. The Holy Church prays on this day for the deceased and thereby eases the grief of his soul. Angels led me out of the dark dungeons of hell and finally installed me in the monastery of my father, Venerable. Vasily, telling me: “Today Rev. Vasily is creating a memory of you.” And then I understood: it was the fortieth day after my separation from the body, and on that day I came to my resting place.”

That is why the Holy Church, since the times of the Apostles, commemorates the departed on the 3rd, 9th, 20th and 40th days after their death and celebrates the Divine Liturgy for their souls every day for forty days. A special prayerful commemoration has been performed since ancient times and on the annual day after the death of the deceased. The day a Christian dies is his birthday for eternal life. That is why we celebrate the memory of our brothers after a year has passed from the day of their death. Celebrating their second birth to heaven, we beseech the mercy of God that the Lord be merciful to their souls and make them residents of paradise. As for the general benefits of our prayer for the souls of the dead, St. Cyril of Jerusalem in the 5th occult teaching says: “If some king sent those who had annoyed him into exile, and their neighbors then, weaving a golden crown, brought it to that king for those suffering punishment, would he not have made their punishment easier? Thus, we, too, for the departed, even if they are sinners, when we offer prayers to God, we do not weave a crown, but we offer Christ, who was slain for our sins, propitiating for them and for us the Lover of Mankind.”

Attention! This is an introductory fragment of the book.

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That same night I fell asleep on my bed and then I saw a certain handsome and very attractive young man. Approaching me, he said: “Get up, Reverend Father Vasily is calling you, to go together to visit Theodora; if you want to see her, then go to him and see him.”

For the sake of spiritual benefit, I convincingly asked the saint to tell me everything: how she parted with her body, how she passed by the slanderers, how she came to this holy monastery, how she lives here... Theodora answered me: “It’s scary to even remember, dear child Gregory, that what are you asking about... After what I experienced in fear and trembling, I forgot much of what I saw and heard, especially since I saw faces that I had never seen during my earthly life, I heard voices and speeches that I had never heard before . What I can say is that I would have met a fierce death for my wrong deeds committed on earth, if not for the prayers of our father Vasily... His prayers made my death easy. It is difficult to describe physical illness and the torment and suffering that a dying person endures; imagine, however, if someone threw himself naked into the flames and there began to gradually burn and be destroyed by the fire... This is what mortal illness is like and - oh, how fierce is the separation of the soul from the body, especially for such sinners as I!

When the hour of my death came, I suddenly saw many evil spirits who appeared to me in the form of Ethiopians and, standing at my bedside, had outrageous conversations and looked at me brutally... Their eyes were bloodshot and seemed blacker than tar. Evil spirits did all sorts of things to frighten me: they were going to kidnap me and take it for themselves, and they brought large books in which all my sins were written down that I had committed since the day of my youth; We looked through these books, as if expecting the arrival of some judge any minute. Seeing all this, I was worried with fear. I was completely exhausted from trembling and horror and in such suffering I looked here and there, wanting to see someone and ask them to drive away these disorderly Ethiopians, but, alas, there was no one who would help me get rid of them.

Being in such a painful state, I suddenly saw two Angels in the form of bright young men, very handsome, dressed in golden clothes; their hair was like snow. They approached my bed and stood on the right side. There were no limits to my joy when I saw them. The evil spirits, seeing the Angels appear, immediately moved away with fear. Then one of the Angels turned to them with anger and asked: “Why do you, dark enemies of the human race, confuse and torment the dying soul? Don’t be happy, there’s nothing of yours here.” After the Angel said this, the shameless spirits began to list everything that I had done since my youth, whether in word, deed, or thought - they told all this to the Angels and at the same time sarcastically asked them: “What? Isn’t there nothing?.. Didn’t she do all this?..” And they added much, much more of their own, wanting to slander me as much as possible.

Finally, death came. She poured something into the cup, but I don’t know what, brought it to me to drink and then, taking a knife, cut off my head. Oh, my child, how bitter, bitter I felt then! And at that moment, death tore out my soul, which quickly separated from the body, just as a bird quickly jumps away from the catcher’s hand if he sets it free.

Then the radiant Angels took me into their arms, and we began to ascend to heaven. Looking back, I saw my body lying motionless, soulless and insensitive, as clothes usually lie when someone, having undressed, throws it and then, standing in front of it, looks at it. When the holy Angels were carrying me, the evil spirits came and said: “We have many of her sins: answer us for them.” In response to this, the Holy Angels presented all the good deeds that I had ever done: when I gave bread to the poor, or gave something to drink to the thirsty, or visited the sick or a prisoner in prison, or when I went to church with zeal, or gave peace to a stranger in the house. in her own life, or when she poured oil into a lamp in the church, or gave incense to the temple of God, or when she reconciled one of the warring parties, or shed tears in prayer, or when she endured troubles with patience, or washed the feet of strangers, or confirmed people in the faith those of little faith, or warned someone against sin, or grieved over other people’s misfortunes and misfortunes, or suffered for others, or hurried to someone for a good deed, or made many bows; or when I fasted in order to conquer evil in myself and subjugate the flesh to the spirit, or fasted on Lent, and on the Nativity of Christ, and on the Feast of the Holy Apostles, and on the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos, and on every Wednesday and Friday; or when I tried not to see what was useless, not to hear idle talk, slander and lies; Having collected all this, they contrasted these good deeds with my sins, and the latter were redeemed by the former.

Opening one vessel after another, the young men poured aromas on me, I was filled with a spiritual fragrance and felt that I had changed and became very bright. The monk said to the holy angels: “My Lords! When you have completed everything necessary for her, then bring her to the abode prepared for me by the Lord and leave her there.” Having said this, he walked away.

The Holy Angels took me from the earth and headed up to heaven, as if ascending through the air. And on the way we suddenly met the first ordeal, which is called the ordeal idle talk and foul language. The torturers appeared and demanded to answer everything that I had ever said badly about anyone; They blamed me for the bad songs I sang, for indecent laughter and ridicule. All this was forgotten by me, since a lot of time has passed since then. But the Angels protected me from the torturers, and we moved on.

Rising higher to the sky, we reached the ordeal the second - the ordeal of lies. The evil spirits who were there were very vile, disgusting and ferocious. When they saw us, they came out to meet us and began to slander me, pointing out the time and place when and where I told lies about whom, they even pointed out those persons about whom I told lies. The angels, for their part, protected me and gave me to the evil torturers from the reliquary of St. Basil; and we passed them without trouble.

We have reached third ordeal- ordeal condemnation and slander. There were many evil spirits here. One of them, an older one, came up and started talking about when and with what bad words I slandered someone throughout my life. It is true that they showed many things falsely, but in any case it was amazing to me how they could remember everything that really happened with such detail and accuracy that I myself had forgotten. All this tormented and tormented me. The holy angels, for their part, told about my good deeds, separating me from the reliquary given by Saint Basil. We have passed this trouble too.

Further on the way we met an ordeal fourth - binge eating and drunkenness. The servants of this ordeal stood like ravenous wolves, ready to devour anyone who came to them. They attacked me like dogs, expressing everything that I had done in my youth regarding gluttony, they remembered when I ate in the morning without praying to God, they also pointed out that I ate modest meals on fasting days, that I ate before lunch and during lunch in excess, that she ate without measure both before dinner and during dinner; in all this they accused me, trying to snatch me from the hands of the Angels. Finally, one of them asked me: “Didn’t you promise at holy baptism to the Lord your God to renounce Satan and all his works and everything that belongs to Satan? Having made such a vow, how could you do what you did?” They even put up bills for the cups that I had drunk throughout my life, saying to me: “Didn’t you drink so many cups on such and such a day, and on such and such a man drank with you, and on such and such a woman? Weren’t you drunk, drinking too much and drinking so much?..” In a word, these hated enemies of the human race slandered me a lot, trying to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels. Then I said that all this really happened and that I remember all this... The angels, having given a part from the reliquary of St. Basil, atoned for my sins of gluttony, and we moved on.

One of the Angels told me: “You see, Theodora, what the soul of the deceased has to experience when it goes through all these ordeals and meets these evil spirits, these princes of darkness.” I answered: “Yes, I saw it and was terribly scared; I wonder if people on earth know what awaits them here and what they will encounter after their death?” “Yes, they know,” said the Angel, “but the pleasures and delights of life affect them so strongly, absorb their attention so much that they involuntarily forget about what awaits them beyond the grave. Good for those who remember the Holy Scriptures and do alms, or perform any other good deeds, which can subsequently redeem them from the eternal torment of hell. Those people who live carelessly, as if immortal, thinking only about the blessings of the womb and about pride, if death suddenly overtakes them, they will be completely destroyed, since they will not have any good deeds to defend themselves. The souls of those people, the dark princes of these ordeals, having severely tormented them, will be taken to the dark places of hell and will keep them there until the coming of Christ - and you, Theodora, would have suffered like this if you had not received the gifts from the saint of God Vasily, who saved you here from everyone these troubles."

Having such a conversation, we reached fifth ordeal - the ordeal of laziness, where sinners are tortured for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites who lived on the labors of others, but did not want to work themselves, and mercenaries who took wages, but did not fulfill the duties they had assumed, are also detained here. Those who are careless about glorifying God are also tormented, and are lazy on holidays and Sundays to go to church for morning services, the Divine Liturgy and other sacred services. Immediately, despondency and negligence of both worldly and spiritual people are experienced in general, and everyone’s negligence about their soul is examined, and many from there are relegated to the abyss. And I was tested there a lot, and it would have been impossible for me to be freed from debts if the holy Angels had not made up for my shortcomings with the gifts of St. Basil.

We came to the ordeal sixth - theft. Here, too, they gave a little to the evil spirits and passed freely.

ordeal seventh, love of money and stinginess, we passed without detention, because, by the grace of God, I never in my life cared about many acquisitions and was not a lover of money, being content with what God gave; and she was not stingy, but what she had, she diligently distributed to those in need.

We entered the ordeal eighth, covetousness. The representatives of this ordeal, tormenting the sins of bribery and flattery, had nothing against me and therefore gnashed their teeth with anger when we comfortably left them.

This is the ordeal ninth - untruths and vanity. I was innocent of them, and soon we left from there.

We have reached the tenth ordeal, the ordeal of envy. By the grace of Christ, here too the evil spirits had nothing against me: neither in their memory, nor in their books did they find anything to condemn me. And we happily moved on.

Met eleventh ordeal, where the sins of pride are tested, but we went through it completely freely, since I turned out to be innocent of this sin.

Ascending further to the sky, we met an ordeal twelfth - the ordeal of anger. Happy is the man who, while living, did not experience anger. And so the oldest of the evil spirits, who was here and sat on the throne, filled with rage and pride, angrily ordered his servants who were here to torment and torture me. The latter, licking their lips like dogs, began to inform on me. They revealed not only what words I really once uttered with rage and anger, or with what words I harmed someone, but they also talked about how I once looked at my children with anger, and another time I punished them too severely . They presented everything very vividly, even indicating the time when this or that sin was committed by me, and those people on whom I once poured out my anger, they even repeated my original words that I spoke then, and said who was present at this. The Angels responded to all this by giving from the ark, and we went higher.

And we met an ordeal thirteenth - rancor. Like robbers, evil spirits jumped up to us and, testing me, wanted to find something written in their charters, but since, through the prayer of St. Basil, they found nothing, they began to cry... I was sinful in many ways, but love she cared for everyone, both great and small, never offended anyone, never remembered evil, never took revenge on others for evil... And we moved on without stopping.

I dared to ask one of the Angels who accompanied me: “I beg you, tell me, how do these evil spirits that we met in the ordeals know who and what did bad things in life?” The holy angel answered: “Every Christian at holy baptism receives a Guardian Angel, who invisibly protects him from everything bad and instructs him in everything good and records all the good deeds performed by this person... On the other hand, the evil angel watches him throughout his life for the evil deeds of man and writes them down in his book; he writes down all the sins in which, as you have seen, people are tested, going through ordeals and heading to heaven. These sins can prevent a soul from entering heaven and cast it straight into the abyss, in which the evil spirits themselves live. There these souls will live until the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, if they do not have good deeds behind them that could snatch them from the hands of the devil. People who believe in the Holy Trinity, who partake as often as possible of the holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior, have direct access to heaven, without any obstacles, and the holy Angels are their protectors, and the holy saints of God pray for the salvation of the souls of such righteously lived people. Nobody cares about the wicked and evil heretics, who do nothing useful in their lives, who live only in unbelief and heresy, and the Angels cannot say anything in their defense.

We came to the ordeal fourteenth - robbery. It tests all those who have pushed someone with anger, or hit someone on the cheeks, shoulders or neck with a rod, or a stick, or some other weapon. The Holy Angels, giving me a little from the reliquary, led me through this ordeal without harm.

We suddenly found ourselves in fifteenth ordeal - sorcery, charm, poisoning with herbs, calling demons. Here were evil spirits, serpentine in appearance, for whom the only purpose of existence was to lead people into temptations and debauchery. Not one of them could say a word against me, since I was innocent of these sins. By the grace of Christ, we soon passed this ordeal.

After this, I asked the Angels accompanying me: “Is it possible for every sin that a person commits in life to be tortured in these ordeals, after death, or, perhaps, is it possible to atone for his sin in life in order to be cleansed of it here too? no longer suffer for him. I’m just in awe of how detailed everything goes.” The angels answered me that not everyone is tested like this in ordeals, but only those like me, who did not confess sincerely before death. If I had confessed to my spiritual father without any shame or fear everything sinful and if I had received forgiveness from my spiritual father, then I would have gone through all these ordeals without hindrance and I would not have had to be tortured for a single sin. But since I did not want to sincerely confess my sins to my spiritual father, here they torture me for this.

Of course, I was helped a lot by the fact that throughout my entire life I wanted and tried to avoid sin. Anyone who diligently strives for repentance always receives forgiveness from God, and through this a free transition from this life to the blissful life after death. The evil spirits who are in ordeals along with their scriptures, having opened them, do not find anything written, for the Holy Spirit makes everything written invisible. And they see this, and know that everything they wrote down has been blotted out thanks to confession, and then they grieve greatly. If the person is still alive, then they try to write some other sins in this place again. Great, truly, is the salvation of a person in confession!.. It saves him from many troubles and misfortunes, makes it possible to go through all the ordeals without hindrance and get closer to God. Others do not confess in the hope that there will still be time for salvation and forgiveness of sins; others are simply ashamed to express their sins to their confessor in confession - these are the people who will be tested strictly in the ordeals. There are also those who are ashamed to express everything to one spiritual father, but choose several, and reveal some sins to one confessor, others to another, and so on; for such a confession they will be punished and will endure a lot, going through ordeals.

So we walked and talked; imperceptibly the ordeal appeared before us the sixteenth is the ordeal of fornication. The torturers of this ordeal jumped up and, looking at us, were amazed that we had reached this ordeal without hindrance, and for some time they stood as if in oblivion. Then they began to torture me, and they not only told the truth, but also gave a lot of false testimony, citing names and places in support; We stayed here for quite a long time.

Here seventeenth ordeal - adultery. The servants of this ordeal quickly jumped up to me and began to explain my sins: how before, when I had not yet served with our holy father Basil, I had a spouse, whom my mistress gave me, and lived with him, and once sinned with others; and they slandered me a lot. The Holy Angels protected me here too, and we moved on.

We then showed up at the eighteenth ordeal - the ordeal of the sins of Sodom, where all unnatural prodigal sins are tortured, and in general all the most vile, secretly committed deeds, about which, according to the word of the Apostle, “it is shameful to speak” (Eph. 5:12). I was not guilty of the sins of this ordeal, and we soon passed it.

While we were rising higher, the holy Angels said to me: “You saw the terrible and disgusting fornication ordeals; know that a rare soul passes them freely: the whole world is in the evil of temptations and defilements, almost all people are voluptuous; “The thoughts of the human heart are evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21), there are few who mortify carnal lusts and few who would freely pass by these ordeals. Most of them die when they get here. The authorities of the prodigal ordeals boast that they alone, more than all other ordeals, replenish the fiery kinship in hell. Thank God, Theodora, that you passed these prodigal torturers through the prayers of your father, St. Basil. You won't see fear anymore."

After that we came to nineteenth ordeal- which is called "idolatry and all kinds of heresies". Here I was not tested in anything, and we soon passed it.

Then we encountered the twentieth ordeal, which is called ordeal of unmercifulness and hardness of heart. In this ordeal all the unmerciful, cruel, harsh and hateful are recorded. When someone does not follow the commandments of God and is not merciful, then the soul of such a person, having come to this ordeal, will be subjected to various tortures and thrown into hell, and there it will be locked up until the general Resurrection. God will not have mercy on such a soul, since she did not give a piece of bread to the poor, did not comfort the beggar, did not visit the sick, did not have mercy on the weak and offended, if not in deed, then at least in a word of comfort, and did not grieve with him in his grief , but, on the contrary, did the opposite.

When we came here, the prince of this ordeal seemed to me very, very cruel, stern and even sad, as if from a long illness. He cried and sobbed; it seemed that he was breathing the fire of unmercifulness. His servants flew up to me like bees and began to test me, but not finding anything, they walked away; We, cheerful and joyful, moved on.

And so we approached the gates of heaven and entered them, rejoicing that we had safely passed the bitter trials of the ordeal. These gates were like crystal, and the buildings that were located here shone like stars. The young men in golden robes standing here joyfully received us, seeing that my soul had escaped the bitter trials of air ordeals... As we walked, having fun and rejoicing about salvation, the water that was above the ground parted and behind us united again. We came to one terrible place, where there were young men, very beautiful, in fiery clothes. They met us, rejoicing that my soul was saved for the Kingdom of God, and they went with us, singing the Divine song.

As we walked, suddenly a cloud descended on us, then another; Having walked a little more, we saw the Throne of God on a raised platform, all white, illuminating all those standing before it. Around him stood very handsome young men, shining, dressed in beautiful clothes... How can I tell you about this, my child Gregory?.. Everything that I saw there is impossible to understand or explain; the mind is clouded with bewilderment and the memory disappears - so that I forget where I am.

The holy Angels who brought me brought me to the Throne of God, and I bowed to the invisible God. Then she heard a voice saying: “Go with her and show her the souls of the righteous and sinners and all the abodes of saints located in heaven, and places in the underworld, and then give her peace where my saint Vasily indicates.”

We set off along an unknown path and came to the abodes of the saints. Here I saw various chambers, created by the hand of God, skillfully and beautifully arranged. I was amazed at what I saw and looked at everything with joy. The Holy Angel, showing me the monasteries of the saints, explained: “This is the monastery of the apostles, and then the prophets and martyrs, and the other monasteries are the saints, saints and righteous people.” When we entered inside and found ourselves in the midst of these beautiful abodes, the saints met us, rejoicing over my salvation, and kissed us with a spiritual kiss. Then they brought me to the dwelling of the patriarch Abraham. It was filled with glory and spiritual joy, and the aromas of fragrant flowers. There were various chambers here, which only the Spirit of God can arrange. We saw many babies rejoicing and having fun. I asked the Angels leading me, what is this cathedral of luminous infants, rejoicing and having fun around this holy elder? The angels answered me that the elder is the patriarch Abraham, and the council of infants is Christian babies. Then we went to explore the surroundings of paradise, the beauty of which is simply impossible to describe.

It is impossible to describe in words what I saw and heard; when I try to continue the story, fear and trembling attack me...

Then they took me to the underworld, where the Lord imprisoned Satan, binding him. There I saw terrible torment. From there we headed west, where I saw equally terrible torments prepared for sinners. The Angels showed me all this, saying: “Do you see from what disasters you were saved thanks to the prayers of the holy saint?..” In terrible torment, the sinners screamed and begged for mercy. It’s hard to even remember many of those torments.

When we looked at all this, one of the Angels accompanying me said: “You know, Theodora, that there is a custom in the world: on the fortieth day after death, the survivors create a memorial for the dead; So, there, on earth, today St. Basil remembers you.”

So, now, my spiritual child Gregory, after forty days have passed since the separation of my soul from my body, I am in this place, which was prepared for our venerable father Vasily. You are still in the world, and so is Saint Basil; he instructs everyone who comes to him on the path of truth and, leading to repentance, turns many to the Lord. Follow me: we will enter my inner chambers and you will examine them. Rev. Vasily was here recently, just before your arrival...”

I followed her and we went in there together. As we walked, I noticed that her vestments were white as snow. We entered a palace decorated with gold; in the middle of it grew various trees with beautiful fruits; Looking to the east, I saw luxurious chambers, light and high. There was a large refectory table, on which stood golden vessels, very expensive. These vessels contained vegetables of different varieties, from which wonderful fragrances emanated.

The Monk Vasily was also here. He sat on a beautiful throne. Here, near the meal, stood many people, but only similar to those who live on earth - they had human outlines and were surrounded, as it were, by the rays of the sun. When they ate from the meal, it was miraculously filled again. Beautiful young men served them food. They were girded with golden belts, and on their heads were crowns made of expensive stone.

Theodora, approaching Saint Basil, began to ask him for me. The monk, looking at me with joy, called me to him. As I approached, I bowed to him, as usual, to the ground, and he quietly said to me: “God will have mercy on you and forgive you, my child!.. He, the All-Merciful, will reward you with all heavenly blessings.” Lifting me from the ground, he continued: “Here is Theodora; you wanted to see her so much and asked me so much about it; “Now you see her: where she is, and what fate her soul has been awarded in this afterlife.” Turning to Theodora, the monk told her: “Go with him and show me my garden. Let him see his beauty.”

Taking me by the right hand, she led me to the wall in which there was a golden gate and, opening it, led me inside the garden. I saw wonderfully beautiful trees there: their leaves were golden, they were decorated with flowers, from which a pleasant fragrance spread. There were countless such beautiful trees; their branches bowed to the ground from the weight of the fruit. I was amazed by all this. Theodora, turning to me, asked: “Why are you surprised?.. Now, if you saw the garden called paradise, which the Lord Himself planted in the east, how surprised you would be!.. You would probably be amazed at its grandeur and beauty ; this one is nothing against heaven.” I begged Theodora to tell me who planted this garden, the like of which I had never seen... She answered that I could not see anything like it, since I was still on earth, and here everything is unearthly, and they lead an unearthly life here .

“The life full of work and sweat,” continued Theodora, “which our reverend father Vasily spent from youth to old age, his intense prayers, the hardships that he endured when he slept on the bare ground, often enduring heat and frost, sometimes eating only with one herb - even before he came to Constantinople - only such an ascetic life served to save himself and through him many of the people; Only for such a life and for the prayers of such ascetics does God give such abodes in the afterlife. He who endures many sorrows and misfortunes in his earthly life, who strictly keeps the commandments of the Lord and fulfills them exactly, receives reward and consolation in the afterlife, just as the holy psalmist David said: “Bear the fruits of your labors” (Ps. 127:2 ).

When Theodora said that life in Heaven is different from life on earth, I involuntarily felt myself, as if wanting to find out if I was still in the flesh and, of course, I was convinced of this. My feelings and thoughts were pure, and my spirit rejoiced at everything I saw. I wanted to return to the palace by the same gates through which I had left. Having entered there, I no longer found anyone at the meal. Having bowed to Theodora, I returned home. At that very moment I woke up and began to think: where was I and what was all that I saw and heard?..

Rising from my bed, I went to Saint Basil to find out from him whether this vision was from God or from demons. Having come to him, I, as usual, bowed to the ground. He blessed me, ordered me to sit near him and asked: “Do you know, child, where you were that night?” Pretending that I didn’t know, I answered: “I haven’t been anywhere, father; I was sleeping on my bed.” The monk said: “It’s true, you really rested in body on your bed, but in spirit you were in a different place. You saw Theodora; when you approached the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom, she greeted you with joy, led you inside the courtyard, showed you everything, told you about her death and all the ordeals she had gone through.

Was it not at my command that you entered the palace, where you saw a wonderful meal and its marvelous arrangement; haven’t you seen beautiful fruits there: what is their sweetness; what are the flowers like, what is the drink like, and what kind of young men served at the table? Didn’t you stand in amazement, looking at the beauty of these chambers?.. Didn’t I show you Theodora, whom you so wanted to see; Did you not learn from her what she was worthy to receive for her pious life? Was it not at my command that she brought you into my beautiful garden?.. Wasn’t this what you saw in your vision that night?.. How can you say that you didn’t see anything of this?” Having told me everything that I saw, the Monk Vasily asked me to write down everything I saw and heard for the benefit of my neighbors.

When I heard this from the saint, I no longer doubted at all that this was not a dream, not a dream, but a real vision sent by the Lord God. I thought to myself: how great is this righteous man with God, who was there both body and soul and knows everything I saw and heard! I shed tears and said: “It’s true, holy father, everything was as you said, and I thank the Lover of Mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ, who made me worthy to see all this and instructed me to resort to you in order to constantly be under the protection of your prayers and enjoy vision of such great miracles."

Then the monk prayed and released me. He had the custom of often visiting his spiritual children for their spiritual benefit; after all, he was an irreplaceable doctor: with prayers he healed both physical and mental illnesses. He was also perspicacious: he foresaw in his spirit which of the people was thinking of secretly doing evil to someone, and warned about it; was an accomplice to all those who suffered troubles and misfortunes; constantly cared for the poor and orphans; He gave good advice and instructions to everyone who came to him with firm faith in the Lord, and comforted the grieving; and he did all this from a pure, sincere and loving heart.