What happens to the human soul after death. Who goes where and where. days after death
After the separation of the soul from the body, an independent life begins for it in the invisible world. The spiritual experience accumulated by the Church makes it possible to build a clear and coherent teaching about the afterlife of man.The disciple of St. Macarius of Alexandria (+ 395) tells: “when we were walking through the desert, I saw two angels who accompanied St. Macarius, one on the right side, the other on the left. One of them spoke about what the soul does in the first 40 days after death: “When on the third day there is an offering in the Church, the soul of the deceased receives relief from the angel guarding it in sorrow, which it feels from separation from the body; receives because the doxology and offering in the Church of God has been completed for her, which is why a good hope is born in her. For in the course of two days the soul, together with the angels who are with it, is allowed to walk the earth wherever it wishes. Therefore, the soul that loves the body sometimes wanders around the house in which it was separated from the body, sometimes around the tomb in which the body is laid.<…>And the virtuous soul goes to those places where it used to do the right thing. On the third day, He who rose from the dead on the third day - the God of all - commands, in imitation of His Resurrection, to ascend to heaven for every Christian soul to worship the God of all. So it is the custom of the good Church to make an offering and prayer for the soul on the third day.
After worshiping God, He is commanded to show the soul the various and pleasant abodes of the saints and the beauty of paradise. All this is considered by the soul for six days, wondering and glorifying the Creator of all this - God. Contemplating all this, she changes and forgets the sorrow she had while in the body. But if she is guilty of sins, then at the sight of the pleasures of the saints, she begins to grieve and reproach herself, saying: “Alas!” to me! How I fussed in that world! Carried away by the satisfaction of lusts, I spent most of my life in carelessness and did not serve God as I should, so that I could also be rewarded with this goodness.<…>After considering all the joys of the righteous for six days, she again ascends by angels to worship God. So, the Church does well, making services and offerings for the deceased on the ninth day.
After the second worship, the Lord of all again orders the soul to be taken to hell and show it the places of torment located there, the different sections of hell and the various wicked torments.<…>Through these various places of torment the soul rushes about for thirty days, trembling, lest it itself be condemned to imprisonment in them. On the fortieth day, she again ascends to worship God; and then the Judge determines a decent place for her in deeds<…>So, the Church does the right thing, making commemoration of the departed and those who received Baptism ”(St. Macarius of Alexandria. A word on the exodus of the souls of the righteous and sinners ..., - “Christian Reading”, 1831, part 43, p. 123-31; “How to conduct soul for the first forty days after leaving the body, M., 1999, pp. 13-19).
The great ascetic of our time, St. John (Maximovich) writes: “It should be borne in mind that the description of the first two days after death gives a general rule that by no means covers all situations<…>saints who were not attached to worldly things at all, lived in constant expectation of a transition to another world, are not even attracted to places where they did good deeds, but immediately begin their ascent to heaven ”(Blessed St. John the Wonderworker, M., 2003 , p. 792) .
The Orthodox Church attaches great importance to the doctrine of aerial ordeals, which begin on the third day after the separation of the soul from the body. She passes through the airspace of the “outpost”, where evil spirits convict her of the sins she has committed and seek to keep her as akin to them. The holy fathers write about this (Ephraim the Syrian, Athanasius the Great, Macarius the Great, John Chrysostom, and others).
The soul of a person who lived according to the commandments of God and the statutes of St. The Church painlessly passes through these "outposts" and after the fortieth day receives a place of temporary rest. It is necessary that loved ones pray in the Church and at home for the departed, remembering that until the Last Judgment much depends on these prayers. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the time is coming, and it is already here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and when they hear, they will live” (John 5:25).
Father Afanasy Gumerov
Death carries an imprint of mystery, horror and mysticism. And some have disgust. Indeed, what happens to a person after death, and in particular, to his body, is an unpleasant sight. It is difficult for a person to come to terms with the fact that he himself, as well as his loved ones, sooner or later will cease to exist forever. And all that remains of them is a decaying body.
Life after death
Fortunately, all world religions claim that death is not the end, but only the beginning. And the testimonies of people who survived the terminal state make us believe in the fact of the existence of the afterlife. About what happens to a person after leaving, each religion has its own explanation. But all religions are the same in one thing: the soul is immortal.
The inevitability, unpredictability, and sometimes insignificance of the causes of a lethal outcome brought the concept of physical death beyond the limits of human perception. Some religions presented sudden death as a punishment for sins. Others are like a divine gift, after which an eternal and happy life without suffering awaited a person.
All major world religions have their own explanation of where the soul goes after death. Most teachings speak of the existence of an immaterial soul. After the death of the body, depending on the teaching, it will be reincarnated, eternal life or the achievement of nirvana.
Physical termination of life
Death is the final stop of all physiological and biological processes of the organism. The most common causes of death are:
The termination of the life of the body is divided into three main stages:
What happens to the soul
What happens after the death of a person with his soul - those people who managed to be brought back to life during the terminal state can tell. All those who have experienced such an experience claim that they saw their body and everything that happened to it from the outside. They are continued to feel, see and hear. Some even tried to contact their relatives or doctors, but they realized with horror that no one could hear them.
As a result, the soul was fully aware of what had happened. After that, she began to pull up. Angels appeared to some of the dead, to others - beloved dead relatives. In such company the soul rose to the light. Sometimes the spirit would pass through a dark tunnel and emerge into the light all alone.
Many people who experienced such experiences claimed that they were very good, not afraid, but did not want to return. Some were asked by an invisible voice if they wanted to return. Others were literally forcibly sent back, saying that the time had not yet come.
All the returnees say that they had no fear. In the first minutes, they simply did not understand what was happening. But then they came complete indifference to earthly life and calm. Some people spoke of how they continued to feel intense love for their loved ones. However, even this feeling could not weaken the desire to go to the light, from which came warmth, kindness, compassion and love.
Unfortunately, no one can tell in detail about what happens in the future. There are no living eyewitnesses. All further journey of the soul occurs only under the condition of complete physical death of the body. And those who returned to this world did not stay in the afterlife long enough to find out what would happen next.
What do the world religions say?
About whether there is life after death, the main world religions answer in the affirmative. For them, death is just the death of the human body, but not the personality itself, which continues its further existence in the form of a spirit.
Different religious teachings their versions of where the soul goes after it leaves the earth:
The teachings of the philosopher Plato
The great ancient Greek philosopher Plato also thought a lot about the fate of the soul. He believed that the immortal spirit comes into the human body from the sacred upper world. And birth on earth is a dream and oblivion. Immortal Essence, enclosed in the body, forgets the truth, as it passes from a deep, higher knowledge to a lower one, and death is an awakening.
Plato argued that separated from the body shell, the soul is able to reason more clearly. Her eyesight, hearing, senses are sharpened. A judge appears before the deceased, who shows him all the deeds of his lifetime - both good and bad.
Plato also warned that an accurate description of all the details of the other world is only a probability. Even a person who has experienced clinical death is unable to reliably describe everything that he managed to see. People are too limited by their physical experience. Our souls are unable to see reality clearly as long as they are connected with the physical senses.
And the human language is unable to formulate and correctly describe the true realities. There are no words that could qualitatively and reliably designate otherworldly reality.
Understanding death in Christianity
In Christianity, it is believed that for 40 days after death, the soul is where the person lived. That is why relatives may feel that someone invisible is present at home. It is very important, as far as possible, to pull yourself together, not to cry and not to be killed by the deceased. Say goodbye with humility. The spirit hears and feels everything, and such behavior of loved ones will cause him even more pain.
The best thing relatives can do is pray. And also to read the Holy Scriptures, helping them to understand what the soul should do next. It is important to remember that until the ninth day, all mirrors in the house must be closed. Otherwise, the ghost will experience pain and shock, looking in the mirror and not seeing himself.
The soul must prepare for God's judgment within 40 days. Therefore, in Christianity, the third, ninth and fortieth days are considered the most important days after the death of a person. Those close to you these days should do everything possible to help the soul prepare for a meeting with God.
Third day after leaving
The priests say that it is impossible to bury the deceased before the third day. The soul at this time still remains attached to the body and is located next to the coffin. At this time it is impossible to break the connection of the spirit with his dead body. This process established by God is necessary for the final understanding and acceptance by the soul of its physical death.
On the third day the soul sees God for the first time. She ascends to his throne along with her guardian angel, after which she goes to watch Paradise. But it's not forever. Hell is to be seen later. Judgment will take place only on the 40th day. It is believed that any soul can be prayed for, which means that at this time, loving relatives should pray intensely for the deceased.
What does the ninth day mean
On the ninth day, the soul again appears before the Lord. Relatives at this time can help the deceased with humble prayers. You only need to remember his good deeds.
After the second visit to the Almighty, the angels take the spirit of the deceased to hell. There he will have the opportunity to observe the torment of unrepentant sinners. It is believed that in special cases, if the deceased led a righteous life and did many good deeds, his fate can be decided on the ninth day. Such a soul becomes a happy inhabitant of Paradise before the 40th day.
Decisive fortieth day
The fortieth day is a very important date. At this time, the fate of the deceased is decided. His soul for the third time comes to bow to the Creator, where the judgment is made, and now the final decision will follow as to where the spirit will be determined - to Paradise or Hell.
On the 40th day, the soul descends to earth for the last time. She can bypass all the most expensive places for her. Many people who have lost loved ones see the dead in their dreams. But it is after 40 days that they cease to physically feel their presence nearby.
There are people who are interested in what happens when an unbaptized person dies. The funeral is not performed. Such a person is outside the jurisdiction of the church. His future fate is only in the hands of God. Therefore, on the anniversary of the death of an unbaptized relative, relatives should pray for him as sincerely as possible and with the hope that this will ease his lot in court.
Facts about the existence of the afterlife
Scientists have been able to prove the existence of the soul. To do this, doctors weighed terminally ill people at the time of death and immediately after it. It turned out that all the deceased at the time of death lost the same weight - 21 grams.
Opponents of this scientific theory of the existence of the soul tried to explain the change in the weight of the deceased by some oxidative processes. But modern research has proven with a 100% guarantee that chemistry has nothing to do with it. And weight loss in all the deceased is strikingly the same. Only 21 grams.
Evidence of the materiality of the spirit
Many scientists are looking for an answer to the question of whether there is life after death. The testimonies of people who have experienced clinical death claim that there is. But pundits are not accustomed to take a word. They need physical evidence.
One of the first who tried to photograph the human soul was the French doctor Hippolyte Baradyuk. He photographed patients at the moment of death. In most of the photographs, a small translucent cloud was clearly visible above the bodies.
Russian doctors used infrared vision devices for such purposes. They were capturing what appeared to be a nebulous object that was gradually dissolving into thin air.
Professor Pavel Guskov from Barnaul proved that the soul of each person is individual, like fingerprints. For this, he used ordinary water. Purified from any impurities, pure water was placed next to a person for 10 minutes. After that, its structure was carefully studied. The water changed significantly and was different in all cases. If the experiment was repeated with the same person, the structure of the water remained the same.
Whether there is life after death or not, one thing follows from all assurances, descriptions and discoveries: whatever is there, beyond, there is no need to be afraid of it.
What happens after death
We often wonder how the soul of a deceased person says goodbye to loved ones. Where does she go and what path does she make. After all, it is not in vain that the days of remembrance of those who have gone to another world are so important. Someone does not believe in the existence of the soul after the death of a person, someone, on the contrary, diligently prepares for this and strives for his soul to live in paradise. In the article, we will try to deal with the issues of interest and understand whether there really is life after death and how the soul says goodbye to relatives.
What happens to the soul after the death of the body
Everything in our life is important, including death. Surely more than once everyone thought about what will happen next. Someone is afraid of the onset of this moment, someone is looking forward to it, and some just live and do not remember that sooner or later life will come to an end. But it should be said that all our thoughts about death have a huge impact on our life, on its course, on our goals and desires, actions.
Most Christians are sure that physical death does not lead to the complete disappearance of a person. Remember that our creed leads to the fact that a person should strive to live forever, but since this is impossible, we truly believe that our body dies, but the soul leaves it and inhabits a new, just born person and continues their existence on this planet. However, before getting into a new body, the soul must come to the Father in order to “account” for the path traveled there, to tell about its earthly life. It is at this moment that we are accustomed to talking about the fact that it is decided in heaven where the soul will go after death: to hell or to heaven.
Soul after death by day
It is difficult to say which path the soul travels while moving towards God. Orthodoxy says nothing about this. But we are used to allocating memorial days after the death of a person. Traditionally, this is the third, ninth and fortieth day. Some authors of church writings assure that it is on these days that some significant events take place on the path of the soul to the Father.
The Church does not dispute such opinions, but does not officially recognize them either. But there is a special teaching that tells about everything that happens after death and why these days are chosen as special.
Third day after death
The third day is the day when the rite of burial of the deceased is performed. Why the third one? This is connected with the Resurrection of Christ, which took place exactly on the third day after the death on the cross, and also on this day there was a celebration of the victory of Life over death. However, some authors understand this day in their own way and talk about it. As an example, you can take St. Simeon of Thessalonica, who says that the third day is a symbol of the fact that the deceased, as well as all his relatives, believe in the Holy Trinity, and therefore strive for the deceased to fall into the three Gospel virtues. What are virtues, you ask? And everything is very simple: it is faith, hope and love familiar to everyone. If during life a person could not find this, then after death he has the opportunity to finally meet all three.
It is also associated with the third day that a person performs certain actions throughout his life and has his own specific thoughts. All this is expressed with the help of three components: reason, will and feelings. Remember that at the funeral we ask God to forgive the deceased for all his sins, which were committed by thought, deed and word.
There is also an opinion that the third day was chosen because on this day those who do not deny the memory of the three-day Resurrection of Christ gather in prayer.
Nine days after death
The next day, on which it is customary to commemorate the dead, is the ninth. St. Simeon of Thessalonica says that this day is associated with nine angelic ranks. The deceased loved one could be ranked among these ranks as an intangible spirit.
But St. Paisius the Holy Mountaineer recalls that the days of commemoration exist so that we pray for our deceased loved ones. He cites the death of a sinner as a comparison with a sober person. He says that, while living on earth, people commit sins, like drunkards, they simply do not understand what they are doing. But when they get to heaven, they seem to sober up and, finally, understand what was done during their lifetime. And we can help them with our prayer. Thus, we can save them from punishment and ensure a normal existence in the other world.
Forty days after death
Another day when it is customary to commemorate a departed loved one. In church tradition, this day appeared for the "ascension of the Savior." This Ascension took place exactly on the fortieth day after his Resurrection. Also, the mention of this day can be found in the "Apostolic decrees". Here it is also recommended to commemorate the deceased on the third, ninth and fortieth day after his death. On the fortieth day, the people of Israel commemorated Moses, and so goes the ancient custom.
Nothing can separate people who love each other, not even death. On the fortieth day, it is customary to pray for loved ones, loved ones, to ask God to forgive our loved one all his sins committed during his lifetime, and to give him paradise. It is this prayer that builds a kind of bridge between the world of the living and the dead and allows us to “connect” with our loved ones.
Surely many have heard about the existence of Magpie - this is the Divine Liturgy, which consists in the fact that the deceased is commemorated daily for forty days. This time is of great importance not only for the soul of the deceased, but also for his loved ones. At this time, they must come to terms with the idea that a loved one is no longer around and let him go. From the moment of his death, his fate must be in the hands of God.
Departure of the soul after death
Probably, people will not soon receive an answer to the question of where the soul goes after death. After all, she does not stop living, but is already in a different state. And how can you point to a place that does not exist in our world. However, it is possible to answer the question regarding to whom the soul of a deceased person will go. The Church claims that she gets to the Lord himself and His saints, where she meets with all her relatives and friends who were loved during her lifetime and left earlier.
Location of the soul after death
As already mentioned, after the death of a person, his soul goes to the Lord. He decides where to send her before the moment she goes to the Last Judgment. So, the soul goes to Heaven or Hell. The Church says that God makes this decision on his own and chooses the place of residence of the soul, depending on what she chose more often during her lifetime: darkness or light, good deeds or sinful ones. Heaven and Hell can hardly be called any specific places where souls come, rather, this is a certain state of the soul when it is in agreement with the Father or, on the contrary, opposes Him. Also, Christians have an opinion that before appearing before the Last Judgment, the dead are resurrected by God and the soul is reunited with the body.
Ordeals of the soul after death
While the soul goes to the Lord, it is accompanied by various ordeals and trials. Ordeal, according to the church, is the denunciation by evil spirits of certain sins that a person indulged in during his lifetime. Think about it, the word "ordeal" clearly has contact with the old word "mytnya". In mytna, they used to collect taxes and pay fines. As for the ordeals of the soul, instead of taxes and fines, the virtues of the soul are taken, and also the prayers of loved ones, which they perform on the memorial days, which were mentioned earlier, are necessary as a payment.
But one should not call ordeals a payment to the Lord for everything that a person did during his lifetime. It is better to call it the recognition of the soul of what weighed it down during the life of a person, what he could not feel for any reason. Everyone has the opportunity to avoid these ordeals. This is what the gospel says. It says that you just need to believe in God, listen to His word, and then the Last Judgment will be avoided.
Life after death
The only thought to be remembered is that for God the dead do not exist. In the same position with Him are those who live on earth and those who live in the afterlife. However, there is one "but". The life of the soul after death, or rather, its location, depends on how a person lives his earthly life, how sinful he will be, with what thoughts he will go his way. The soul also has its own destiny, posthumous, so it depends on what kind of relationship a person will have with God during his lifetime.
Last Judgment
The teachings of the church say that after the death of a person, the soul enters a certain private court, from where it goes to heaven or hell, and there it already awaits the Last Judgment. After him, all the dead are resurrected and returned to their bodies. It is very important that in that very period between these two judgments, relatives do not forget about prayers for the deceased, about appeals to the Lord for mercy on him, forgiveness of his sins. You should also do various good deeds in his remembrance, commemorate him during the Divine Liturgy.
wake days
"Commemoration" - this word is known to everyone, but does everyone know its exact meaning. It should be noted that these days are needed to pray for a deceased loved one. Relatives should ask the Lord for forgiveness and mercy, ask Him to grant them the Kingdom of Heaven and give them life beside Himself. As already mentioned, this prayer is especially important on the third, ninth and fortieth days, which are considered special.
Every Christian who has lost a loved one should come to church for prayer these days, you should also ask the church to pray with him, you can order a funeral service. In addition, on the ninth and fortieth day, you need to visit the cemetery and organize a memorial meal for all loved ones. Also, the first anniversary after the death of a person is a special day for commemoration by prayer. Subsequent ones also matter, but not as strong as the first.
The Holy Fathers say that prayer alone on a certain day is not enough. Relatives who remain in the earthly world should do good deeds for the glory of the deceased. This is considered a manifestation of love for the departed.
Path after life
You should not treat the concept of the “path” of the soul to the Lord as a kind of road along which the soul moves. It is difficult for earthly people to know the afterlife. One Greek author claims that our mind is not capable of knowing the eternities, even if it were omnipotent and omniscient. This is due to the fact that the nature of our mind, by its very nature, is limited. We set a certain limit in time, setting an end for ourselves. However, we all know that there is no end to eternity.
stuck between worlds
Sometimes it happens that inexplicable things happen in the house: water starts to flow from a closed tap, a closet door opens by itself, some thing falls from a shelf, and much more. For most people, these events are quite frightening. Someone rather runs to church, someone even calls the priest home, and some do not pay attention to what is happening at all.
Most likely, these are deceased relatives trying to get in touch with their relatives. Here you can say that the soul of the deceased is in the house and wants to say something to his loved ones. But before you find out why she came, you should find out what happens to her in the other world.
Most often, such visits are made by souls who are stuck between this world and the other world. Some souls do not understand at all where they are and where they should move on. Such a soul strives to return to its physical body, but it can no longer do this, therefore it "hangs" between the two worlds.
Such a soul continues to be aware of everything, to think, it sees and hears living people, but they can no longer see it. Such souls are called ghosts, or ghosts. It is difficult to say how long such a soul will stay in this world. This may take several days, or it may take more than one century. More often than not, ghosts need help. They need help to get to the Creator and finally find peace.
The souls of the dead come to relatives in a dream
This is not uncommon, perhaps one of the most common. You can often hear that a soul came to someone to say goodbye in a dream. Such phenomena in individual cases have different meanings. Such meetings do not please everyone, or rather, the vast majority of dreamers are frightened. Others do not pay attention at all to who and under what circumstances they dream. Let's find out what dreams can tell about in which the souls of the dead see relatives, and vice versa. Interpretations are usually as follows:
- A dream can be a warning about the approach of some events in life.
- Perhaps the soul comes to ask for forgiveness for everything that was done during life.
- In a dream, the soul of a deceased loved one can talk about how he "settled" there.
- Through the dreamer to whom the soul has appeared, she can convey a message to another person.
- The soul of a deceased person can ask his relatives and friends for help, appearing in a dream.
These are not all the reasons why the dead come to the living. Only the dreamer himself can determine the meaning of such a dream more accurately.
It does not matter at all how the soul of the deceased says goodbye to his relatives when he leaves the body, what is important is that she is trying to say something that was not said during her lifetime, or to help. After all, everyone knows that the soul does not die, but watches over us and tries in every possible way to help and protect.
strange calls
It is difficult to unequivocally answer the question of whether the soul of the deceased remembers his relatives, however, according to the events taking place, it can be assumed that he remembers. After all, many see these signs, feel the presence of a loved one nearby, see dreams with his participation. But that's not all. Some souls try to contact their loved ones by telephone. People can receive messages from unknown numbers with strange content, receive calls. But if you try to call back to these numbers, it turns out that they do not exist at all.
Usually such messages and calls are accompanied by strange noises and other sounds. It is the crackling and noise that is a kind of connection between the worlds. This may be one of the answers to the question of how the soul of the deceased says goodbye to relatives and friends. After all, calls are received only in the first days after death, then less and less, and then completely disappear.
Souls can "call" for various reasons, perhaps the soul of the deceased says goodbye to relatives, wants to tell something or warn about something. Do not be afraid of these calls and ignore them. On the contrary, try to understand their meaning, maybe they can help you, or maybe someone needs your help. The dead will not call just like that, for the purpose of entertainment.
reflection in the mirror
How does the soul of a deceased person say goodbye to loved ones through mirrors? Everything is very simple. For some people, deceased relatives appear in mirrors, TV screens and computer monitors. This is one way to say goodbye to your loved ones, to see them for the last time. Surely it is not in vain that mirrors are often used for various fortune-telling. After all, they are considered a corridor between our world and the other world.
In addition to the mirror, the deceased can also be seen in the water. This is also a fairly common occurrence.
Tactile sensations
This phenomenon can also be called widespread and quite real. we can feel the presence of a deceased relative through a breeze passing by or some kind of touch. One simply feels his presence without any contact. Many in moments of great sadness feel that someone is hugging them, trying to hug them at a time when no one is around. This is the soul of a loved one who comes to calm his beloved or relative, who is in a difficult situation and needs help.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways how the soul of the deceased says goodbye to relatives. Someone believes in all these subtleties, many are afraid, and some completely deny the existence of such phenomena. It is impossible to accurately answer the question of how long the soul of the deceased is with relatives and how she says goodbye to them. Here, much depends on our faith and desire to meet at least once with a loved one who has passed away. In any case, one must not forget about the dead, on the days of remembrance one must pray, ask God for forgiveness for them. Also remember that the souls of the dead see their relatives and always take care of them.
In the Christian tradition, the concept of the ordeal of the soul after death is a test of strength, something that tests the soul after it leaves the body and before it goes to the other world, to the Underworld or to Heaven.
In the article:
Ordeals of the soul after death
As various revelations say, after death, each spirit passes twenty "ordeals", which means trials or torment by some kind of sin. Through ordeals, the soul is either cleansed or thrown into Gehenna. Having overcome one of the tests, the spirit steps over to another, higher in rank, to serious sins. Having passed the test, the soul of the deceased has the opportunity to continue on the path without constant demonic temptations.
The ordeal after death, according to Christianity, is terrible. You can overcome them with prayers, fasting and strong, unshakable faith. There is evidence of how terrible demons and trials after death are - the Virgin Mary herself begged her son Jesus to save her from the torments of ordeal. The Lord responded to the prayers and took the pure soul of Mary in order to turn the Virgin Mary to Heaven with his divine hand. The icon of the Assumption, revered by Orthodox Christians, depicts the salvation of the Mother of God from many days of torment and the ascension to Heaven.
The tests of the holy fathers and hagiographic texts about the ordeals of the soul describe these tests in a similar way. The individual experience of any person affects his own torture and perception of them. The severity of each test is increasing, from the most common sins to serious ones. The spirit of a person after death is under a small (private) court, where life is viewed and summed up all the deeds committed by the living. Depending on whether the judge fought with fallen spirits or succumbed to passions, a sentence is passed.
The first ordeal is idle talk - words spoken in vain, love for chatter. The second is lies, spreading rumors, deceiving others for their own benefit. The third are slander and disapproval, slander on someone else's reputation or condemnation of the actions of others from one's own place. The fourth is gluttony, indulging the base passions of the body, hunger.
20 ordeals of the soul of Blessed Theodore, painting before descending into a cave in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Fifth - laziness, idleness. The sixth is theft, appropriation of someone else's property that does not belong to a person as a result of an honest exchange. Seventh - love of money and stinginess as a symbol of excessive attachment to things of the material, temporary world. Eighth - covetousness, that is, craving for unrighteous acquisitions obtained dishonestly. The ninth is deceit, lies in deeds, wrong judgment without a fair judgment. The tenth is envy, the scourge of God, the desire to dispose of what is near and far. Eleventh - pride, excessive conceit, inflated ego, self-respect.
The twelfth is anger and rage, symbols of intemperance and lack of meekness befitting a Christian. Thirteenth - vindictiveness, keeping in memory other people's bad deeds against oneself, the desire to commit revenge. The fourteenth ordeal is murder, the deprivation of the life of another person. Fifteenth - sorcery, charm, the summoning of demons, demons and spirits, the use of magic for one's own and other people's needs as a way of death of the soul. Sixteenth - fornication, promiscuous intercourse with a change of many partners in life, unfaithfulness before the face of the Lord.
Seventeenth is adultery, the betrayal of a spouse. The eighteenth is a sodomy offense, when a man lies down with a man, and a lady with a woman. For this sin, Sodom and Gomorrah were cast into dust by God. The nineteenth is heresy, falling into doubt, rejection of the God-given faith. The twentieth and last is recognized as torture - mercilessness and cruelty, keeping a hard heart and lack of compassion for people.
The path of the soul that has left the physical body lies through these trials. Every sin to which a person was inclined during earthly life will return after death, and demons, called tax collectors, will begin to torment the sinner. Sincere prayer, coming from the very depths of a penitent soul, will help to save oneself from one's own sins and ease the torment.
Where does a person go after death?
This question has tormented the minds of people since ancient times. Where do the dead go, where does a person go after death? Where does the soul fly after the death of the physical shell.? The traditional answer is given by all religions, speaking of another kingdom, the afterlife, where every dead person will go. This name is not accidental: otherworldly - "on the other side", and afterlife - "behind the grave".
In the Christian tradition, ordeals take place on, lasting for everyone as long as the sins are strong. The past soul bows to God, and in the next thirty-seven earthly days after death, the path of the soul passes through the halls of Heaven and the abyss of Hell. The spirit does not yet know where it will have to stay until the Last Judgment arrives. Hell or Heaven - reported on the fortieth day, and it is impossible to appeal the verdict of the Heavenly Court.
Close people and relatives of the deceased should, within the next forty days after the death of a dear person, ask for help to his soul. Prayers are the help that a Christian provides to another on a long posthumous journey. This alleviates the fate of the sinner and helps the righteous, it turns out to be that spiritual gold that does not burden the spirit and allows you to atone for sins. Where the soul goes after death, prayer is more precious than gold, sincere, pure, honest, which is audible to God.
Venerable Macarius of Alexandria
Having overcome ordeals and finished earthly affairs, discarding them, the soul gets acquainted with the true world on the other side of being, one of the parts of which will become its eternal home. If you listen to the revelation of St. Macarius of Alexandria, prayers for the dead, the commemoration that is customary to perform (three times three, a sacred divine number, similar to nine angelic ranks), is due to the fact that after this day the soul leaves Paradise, she is shown all the abysses and nightmares of the Underworld . This continues until the fortieth day.
Forty days is a total number, an approximate model, which is guided by in the earthly world. Each case is different, examples of post-mortem travel will vary endlessly.
There is an exception to every rule: some of the dead complete their journeys earlier or later than the fortieth day. The very tradition of an important date came from the description of the posthumous journey of St. Theodora, in which her journey in the depths of Hell was completed after forty earth days.
Where do souls live after death?
Christian books promise that the physical universe, subject to decay and dying, will disappear and the Kingdom of God, eternal and inescapable, will ascend the throne. In this kingdom, the souls of the righteous and those whose sins have been redeemed will be reunited with their former bodies, immortal and incorruptible, in order to shine forever in the glory of Christ and lead a renewed, holy life. Before that, they stay in Paradise, where they know joy and glory, but partial, and not that which will come at the end of time, when a new creation is accomplished. The world will appear renewed and washed, like a young man full of health after a decrepit old man.
Where the souls of dead people who led a righteous life live, there is no need, grief and envy. No cold, no scorching heat, but happiness to be near Him. This is the purpose that God gave for people, creating them on the sixth day of creation. Few can follow him, but everyone has a chance for the atonement of sins and the salvation of the soul, for Jesus is merciful, and every person is dear and close to him, even a lost sinner.
The one who did not accept the divine blessing, did not escape, will forever remain in Hell. Hell - Gehenna Fiery, Tartarus, Underworld, a place where souls undergo great suffering. Before the beginning of the Apocalypse and the onset of the Last Judgment, sinners suffer in a spiritual form, and after the completion they will begin to suffer, reuniting with their earthly bodies.
And where does the soul go after death until the Last Judgment occurs? First, he goes through ordeals, then, up to the nineteenth, he travels through Paradise, where he eats its fruits. On the ninth day and until the fortieth day, she is led through Hell, showing the torments of sinners.
Where do the souls of the dead go after this? Heaven, Hell or Purgatory. Purgatory is the dwelling place of those who did not sin fully, but did not observe righteousness either. These are atheists, doubters, representatives of other religions who have fled there from the Christian faith. In Purgatory, where the soul resides after death, there is neither bliss nor torment. Spirit dwells between Heaven and Earth, waiting for a chance
When the deceased realized that he was dead, he is still confused, he does not know where to go and what to do. For some time, his soul remains near the body, in places familiar to it. According to Christian teaching, the first two days the soul is relatively free. Then she will pass into another world, but in these first minutes, hours and days she can visit places dear to her on earth and people who were close to her. Indicative in this regard is the story of E.V.P.:
“In the spring of 1942, I left for the city of Uglich at the call of my sick father. My mother was evacuated to Kazan.
On Pascha evening, I read the Acts of the Holy Apostles in church to everyone who was waiting for Paschal Matins.
Finally, the priest with the parishioners went to the procession, although it was impossible to walk with candles (because of the blackout in wartime). Everyone is almost out. I was left alone. In the porch, the priest proclaimed: "Christ is risen!"
Christ is Risen!
A week later, I returned to Moscow and the hospital informed me that my mother had died on the night of April 5 (March 23, old style), Easter.
There are plenty of descriptions of such cases of appearances of just dead people to their relatives and friends, no matter how far away they are, both in church and secular literature. The testimonies of numerous people who were personally present at such events leave no doubt about their veracity.
Christianity has always known and taught that a person has not only a body, but also a soul. The human soul does not die when death comes, it, leaving the dead body, finds itself in completely new conditions, but continues to live a conscious life. At the same time, “our deeds follow us” - what we did during our earthly life will have consequences after death.
Holy Scripture speaks of the immortality of the human soul quite definitely. Here are the words of Jesus Christ Himself: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has eternal life” (Gospel of John 6:47).
Addressing His disciples, Jesus Christ said: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather be afraid of him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Gospel of Matthew 10, 28).
And again from the Gospel of John I, 50: “... I know that His commandment is eternal life. So what I say is as the Father has told Me." These are also the words of Jesus Christ.
Not so long ago it was possible not to believe in Christian teaching, but now religious beliefs are confirmed by science, it is impossible to “not believe” in objective data, and everyone will have to understand that the nature of his earthly life will have some consequences for him in the future.
This new knowledge, however, has its limits. We now more correctly understand the very essence of death and know what awaits us after it. But this knowledge is limited in time. From the testimonies of people who have experienced clinical death, it is only known what will happen in the first minutes and hours after breathing has stopped and the heart has stopped beating.
And then what? We cannot answer this question based on the knowledge of the science of death. Science knows nothing about either the further or the final fate of that part of a person that remains alive after the death of the body. The answer to this question is given by Christianity.
Archbishop Anthony of Geneva writes about what happens to the soul immediately after it leaves the dead body: “So, a Christian dies. His soul, purified to some extent in the very exit from the body, thanks only to the fear of death, leaves the lifeless body. She is alive, she is immortal, she continues to live in the fullness of the life that she began on earth, with all her thoughts and feelings, with all the virtues and vices, with all the advantages and disadvantages. The life of the soul beyond the grave is a natural continuation and consequence of its life on earth. The personality remains unchanged.
Archbishop Anthony explains this in the following words: “If death were to fundamentally change the state of the soul, then this would be a violation of the inviolability of human freedom and would destroy what we call the personality of a person.”
After the death of the body, the soul lives "to the fullness of life", which means that the personality will continue to develop in one direction or another. Archbishop Anthony develops this idea further: “If a deceased Christian was pious, prayed to God, hoped in Him, submitted to His will, repented before Him, tried to live according to His commandments, then after death his soul will joyfully feel the presence of God, will partake immediately, in greater or to a lesser degree, to the divine life, open to it... If, however, the deceased in earthly life lost the loving Heavenly Father, did not seek Him, did not pray to Him, sacrileged, serving sin, then his soul after death will not find God, will not be able to feel His love. Deprived of divine life, for the sake of which a god-like person was created, his unsatisfied soul will begin to yearn, suffer to a greater or lesser extent ... The expectation of the resurrection of the body and the Last Judgment will increase the joy of the pious and the sorrow of the wicked.
Archbishop Luke says the following about the state of the human soul after death: “In the immortal human soul, after the death of the body, eternal life continues and endless development in the direction of good and evil.”
The most terrible thing in these words of the archbishop is that at the moment of the death of the body, all the further development of the soul in the direction of good or evil was already determined. In the next world, there are two roads before the soul - to the light or from it, and the soul after the death of the body can no longer choose the path. The road is predetermined by human life on earth.
Two different paths correspond to two different states of the soul after the death of the body. Here is how Archbishop Luke explains it: “The eternal bliss of the righteous or the eternal torment of sinners must be understood in such a way that the immortal spirit of the former, enlightened and powerfully strengthened after liberation from the body, receives the possibility of infinite development in the direction of goodness and Divine love, in constant communion with God and by all incorporeal forces. And the gloomy spirit of villains and theomachists, in constant communion with the devil and his angels, will forever be tormented by his estrangement from God, whose holiness he will finally know, and by that unbearable poison that evil and hatred conceal in itself, infinitely growing in unceasing communion with the center and source of evil. - Satan.
Archbishop Anthony says the same and reminds us that the possibilities of the soul after death are limited. Here are his words: “Continuing to live after the death of the body, the soul has the fullness of personality and self-consciousness with all its being. She feels, realizes, perceives, reasons... However, let's not forget that the soul outside the body is an incomplete person, therefore not everything that is possible for people is possible for their souls. Despite the fact that souls after the death of the body have the fullness of personality and perform all mental functions, their possibilities are limited. So, for example, a person living on earth can repent and more or less change his own life, return from sin to God. The soul itself cannot, even if it wants to, radically change and start a new life, which would be completely different from its life on earth, acquire what it did not have as a person.
It is in this sense that we must understand the words that there is no repentance beyond the grave. The soul lives there and develops in the direction it started on earth.”
But the Lord still leaves hope for the soul of even an unrepentant sinner, but for its salvation, help from outside is already required. This help includes prayers for the dead, alms done on their behalf and other good deeds.
Bishop Theophan the Recluse writes the following about the afterlife: “Inside or in the depths of the world visible to us, another world is hidden, just as real as this one, either spiritual or subtly material - God knows ... but it is known that saints live in it and angels. The soul aspires upward, but only to the extent that its spiritual forces allow... Everything around the soul is now new. It is outside the usual space and time. She can instantly move wherever she wants, she can pass through walls, doors, through everything material ... "
The narration of the sacred books and the stories of our contemporaries, who looked beyond the veil of the afterlife, are almost identical. The same perceptions and phenomena are described: passing through a dark tunnel, light, the ability to instantly overcome any space and pass through everything material, time compression, unsuccessful attempts to contact with those living on earth, seeing one's body from the outside. Otherworldly nature - plants, animals, birds, heavenly music, choral singing are described here and there.
Those who returned "from there" told about meetings with various spiritual beings. They saw their formerly deceased relatives and other close people, patriarchs, saints, angels, "guides". Christianity also promises a meeting with dead loved ones and teaches that the soul of the deceased will very soon be met by a guardian angel and an oncoming angel who needs to pray during life. Angels will guide and accompany the soul as it takes its first steps into the new world. However, while contemporary evidence speaks mainly of joyful meetings and bright spirits, Christian sources write about something else. Very early the soul will be met by ugly and terrible creatures. They will block her way, they will encroach on her, threaten and demand their own. Christian writers warn that evil spirits can take on any form in order to give false advice and direct the soul to the wrong path.
The works of the resuscitators have shown that very soon after a person enters the other world, pictures of his now past earthly life pass before him. This gives you the opportunity to review and re-evaluate your life in the body. Christianity also knows about this review of the past life, but it understands its meaning differently and calls it posthumous ordeals, where the good and evil deeds committed by a person in earthly life are weighed, which will determine the further fate of the soul of the deceased.
