In the first days after separation from the body, the soul communicates with its native places and meets with deceased loved ones, or rather, with their souls. In other words, he communicates with what was precious in earthly life.
She gains a wonderful new ability - spiritual vision. Our body is a reliable gate with which we are closed from the world of spirits, so that our sworn enemies, fallen spirits, do not invade us and destroy us. Although they are so cunning that they find workarounds. And some serve them without seeing them themselves. But spiritual vision, which opens after death, allows the soul to see not only the spirits present in the surrounding space in huge numbers, in their true form, but also their deceased loved ones, who help the lonely soul get used to new, unusual conditions for it.
Many of those who have post-mortem experiences have spoken of encounters with deceased relatives or acquaintances. These meetings took place on earth, sometimes shortly before the soul left the body, and sometimes in the setting of the otherworldly world. For example, one woman who experienced temporary death heard a doctor tell her family that she was dying. Coming out of her body and rising up, she saw her dead relatives and friends. She recognized them, and they were glad that they met her.
Another woman saw her relatives greeting her and shaking her hands. They were dressed in white, rejoicing and looking happy. “And suddenly they turned their backs on me and began to move away; and my grandmother, looking over her shoulder, told me: “We will see you later, not this time.” She died at 96, and here she looked, well, forty to forty-five years old, healthy and happy.”
One man says that while he was dying of a heart attack at one end of the hospital, at the same time his own sister was dying of an attack of diabetes at the other end of the hospital. “When I left my body,” he says, “I suddenly met my sister. I was very happy about this because I loved her very much. While talking to her, I wanted to follow her, but she, turning to me, ordered me to stay where I was, explaining that my time had not yet come. When I woke up, I told my doctor that I had met my sister who had just passed away. The doctor didn't believe me. However, at my persistent request, he sent a nurse to check and found out that she had recently died, as I told him.” And there are a lot of similar stories. A soul that has passed into the afterlife often meets there those who were close to it. Although this meeting is usually short-lived. Because great trials and private judgment await the soul ahead. And only after a private trial is it decided whether the soul should be with its loved ones, or whether it is destined for another place. After all, the souls of dead people do not wander of their own free will, wherever they want. The Orthodox Church teaches that after the death of the body, the Lord determines for each soul its temporary place of residence - either in heaven or in hell. Therefore, meetings with the souls of deceased relatives should be accepted not as a rule, but as exceptions allowed by the Lord for the benefit of recently deceased people who either have yet to live on earth, or, if their souls are frightened by their new situation, help them.
The existence of the soul extends beyond the coffin, where it transfers everything that it is accustomed to, that was dear to it, and that it learned in its temporary earthly life. Way of thinking, life rules, inclinations - everything is transferred by the soul to the afterlife. Therefore, it is natural that at first the soul, by the grace of God, meets those who were closer to it in earthly life. But it happens that deceased loved ones appear to living people.
And this does not mean their imminent demise. The reasons can be different, and often incomprehensible to people living on earth. For example, after the resurrection of the Savior, many dead also appeared in Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52-53). But there were also cases when the dead appeared to admonish the living who were leading an unrighteous lifestyle. It is necessary, however, to distinguish true visions from demonic obsessions, after which only fear and an anxious state of mind remain. For cases of the appearance of souls from the afterlife are rare and always serve to admonish the living.
So, a few days before the ordeal (two or three), the soul, accompanied by protective angels, is on earth. She can visit those places that were dear to her, or go where she wanted to visit during her lifetime. The doctrine of the soul's presence on earth during the first days after death existed in the Orthodox Church already in the 4th century. Patristic tradition reports that the Angel who accompanied the Monk Macarius of Alexandria in the desert said: “The soul of the deceased receives from the Angel guarding it relief in the grief that it feels from separation from the body, which is why good hope is born in it. For for two days the soul, together with the Angels who are with it, is allowed to walk on the earth wherever it wants. Therefore, the soul that loves the body sometimes wanders near the house in which it was separated from the body, sometimes near the coffin in which the body is laid, and thus spends two days, like a bird, looking for a nest for itself. And a virtuous soul walks in those places in which it used to do the truth...”
It should be said that these days are not a mandatory rule for everyone. They are given only to those who have retained their attachment to earthly worldly life, and for whom it is difficult to part with it and know that they will never again live in the world they left. But not all souls that part with their bodies are attached to earthly life. So, for example, the holy saints, who were not at all attached to worldly things, lived in constant anticipation of the transition to another world, are not even attracted to the places where they did good deeds, but immediately begin their ascent to heaven.
The question is of course very interesting to many, and there are two most popular views on it: scientific and religious.
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From a religious point of view |
From a scientific point of view |
| The human soul is immortal | There is nothing but the physical shell |
| After death, a person expects heaven or hell, depending on his actions during life | Death is the end, it is impossible to avoid or significantly prolong life |
| Immortality is guaranteed to everyone, the only question is whether it will be eternal pleasures or endless torment | The only kind of immortality you can get is in your children. Genetic continuation |
| Earthly life is only a brief prelude to an endless existence | Life is all you have and is what you should value most. |
- - the best amulet against the evil eye and damage!
What happens to the soul after death?
This question interests many people, and now in Russia there is even an institute that is trying to measure the soul, weigh it and film it. But the Vedas describe that the soul is immeasurable, it is eternal and always existing, and is equal to one ten-thousandth of the tip of a hair, that is, very small. It is practically impossible to measure it with any material instruments. Think for yourself, how can you measure intangibles with material instruments? This is a riddle for people, a mystery.
The Vedas say that the tunnel that people who have experienced clinical death describe is nothing more than a channel in our body. There are 9 main openings in our body - ears, eyes, nostrils, navel, anus, genitals. There is a channel in the head called sushumna, you can feel it - if you close your ears, you will hear noise. The crown is also a channel through which the soul can exit. It can come out through any of these channels. After death, experienced people can determine which sphere of existence the soul went to. If it comes out through the mouth, then the soul returns again to the earth, if through the left nostril - towards the moon, through the right - towards the sun, if through the navel - it goes to the planetary systems that are below the Earth, and if through the genitals, it enters to the lower worlds. It so happened that I saw a lot of dying people in my life, in particular the death of my grandfather. At the moment of death, he opened his mouth, then there was a big exhalation. His soul came out through his mouth. Thus, the life force along with the soul leaves through these channels.
Where do the souls of dead people go?
After the soul has left the body, for 40 days it will remain in the place where it lived. It happens that after a funeral people feel that someone is present in the house. If you want to feel like a ghost, imagine eating ice cream in a plastic bag: there are possibilities, but you can't do anything, you can't taste it, you can't touch anything, you can't physically move. When a ghost looks in the mirror, he does not see himself and feels shocked. Hence the custom of covering mirrors.
The first day after the death of the physical body, the soul is in shock because it cannot understand how it will live without a body. Therefore, in India there is a custom of immediately destroying the body. If the body remains dead for a long time, the soul will constantly circle around it. If the body is buried, she will see the process of decomposition. Until the body rots, the soul will be with it, because during life it was very attached to its outer shell, practically identified itself with it, the body was the most valuable and expensive.
On the 3-4th day, the soul comes to its senses a little, disentangles itself from the body, walks around the neighborhood, and returns to the house. Relatives do not need to throw hysterics and loud sobs, the soul hears everything and experiences these torments. At this time, one must read the sacred scriptures and literally explain what the soul should do next. The spirits hear everything, they are next to us. Death is a transition to a new life; death as such does not exist. Just as during life we change clothes, so the soul changes one body to another. During this period, the soul experiences not physical pain, but psychological pain; it is very worried and does not know what to do next. Therefore, we need to help the soul and calm it down.
Then you need to feed her. When the stress passes, the soul wants to eat. This condition appears the same as during life. The subtle body desires to receive taste. And we respond to this with a glass of vodka and bread. Think for yourself, when you are hungry and thirsty, they offer you dry crust of bread and vodka! How will it be for you?
You can make the future life of the soul easier after death. To do this, for the first 40 days you do not need to touch anything in the room of the deceased and do not start dividing his things. After 40 days, you can do some good deed on behalf of the deceased and transfer the power of this act to him - for example, on his birthday, keep a fast and declare that the power of the fast passes to the deceased. In order to help the deceased, you need to earn this right. Just lighting a candle is not enough. In particular, you can feed the priests or distribute alms, plant a tree, and all this must be done on behalf of the deceased.
The scriptures say that after 40 days the soul comes to the bank of a river called Virajya. This river is teeming with various fish and monsters. There is a boat near the river, and if the soul has enough piety to pay for the boat, it swims across, and if not, then it swims - this is the way to the courtroom. After the soul has crossed this river, the god of death Yamaraj, or in Egypt they call him Anibus, awaits it. A conversation is conducted with him, his whole life is shown as if on film. There the future fate is determined: in what body the soul will be born again and in what world.
By performing certain rituals, ancestors can greatly help the dead, make their future path easier, and even literally pull them out of hell.
Video - Where does the soul go after death?
Does a person feel his death approaching?
In terms of premonitions, there are examples in history when people predicted their death within the next few days. But this does not mean that every person is capable of this. And we shouldn’t forget about the great power of coincidences.
It may be interesting to know whether a person is able to understand that he is dying:
- We all feel the deterioration of our own condition.
- Although not all internal organs have pain receptors, there are more than enough of them in our body.
- We even feel the arrival of a banal ARVI. What can we say about death?
- Regardless of our desires, the body does not want to die in panic and activates all its resources to fight the serious condition.
- This process may be accompanied by convulsions, pain, and severe shortness of breath.
- But not every sharp deterioration in health indicates the approach of death. Most often, the alarm will be false, so there is no need to panic in advance.
- You should not try to cope with conditions close to critical on your own. Call everyone you can for help.
Signs of approaching death
As death approaches, a person may experience some physical and emotional changes, such as:
- Excessive drowsiness and weakness, at the same time periods of wakefulness decrease, energy fades.
- Breathing changes, periods of rapid breathing are replaced by pauses in breathing.
- Hearing and vision change, for example, a person hears and sees things that others do not notice.
- Appetite worsens, the person drinks and eats less than usual.
- Changes in the urinary and gastrointestinal systems. Your urine may turn dark brown or dark red, and you may have bad (difficult) stools.
- Body temperature changes, ranging from very high to very low.
- Emotional changes, the person is not interested in the outside world and certain details of everyday life, such as time and date.
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The Bible says that “the dust will return to the earth from where it came, and the spirit will return to the Creator, Who gave it”... Forgive the pun, but today only the dead do not try to find out or find out what happens to the soul when the person dies. So I was puzzled by this question.
Human death - what is it?
From a biological and physical point of view, the death of a person is a complete stop of all processes of his life. This is an irreversible phenomenon that none of us can ignore. At the moment of a person’s death, processes occur that are inversely proportional to his creation. The brain is irreversibly destroyed, losing its functionality. The emotional world is erased.
Where is it - the edge of existence?
The Bible says that "the dust will return to the ground from where it came, and the spirit will return to the Creator, Who gave it." In accordance with this, today some scientists have derived the formula In writing, it will have the following two options:
- dust of the earth + breath of life = living human soul;
- lifeless body + breath of the Creator = living personality.
From the formula it is clear that each of us is endowed with a body and a thinking mind. And as long as we breathe (we have the breath of God in us), we are living beings. Our soul is alive. Death is any cessation of life, it is non-existence. The human body becomes dust, the breath (spirit of life) returns back to the Creator - to God. When we leave, our soul slowly dies away, subsequently being reborn. A decaying corpse remains in the ground. More on this later.
What happens to the soul when a person dies?
Our soul is freed from the body over the course of several days, going through several stages of purification:
So, what happens to the soul when a person dies? From all of the above, we can conclude that she returns back to the Creator, and does not go to heaven or hell. However, please! But what about the Bible, which says that ours goes to either heaven or hell? More on this later.
Where do the souls of dead people go?
Today, scientists are trying to prove the existence of heaven and hell by collecting testimonies of people who returned “from the other world.” For those who don’t understand, I’m talking about survivors. Their testimonies coincide down to the smallest details! Non-believers say that they saw hell with their own eyes: they were surrounded by snakes, demons and a terrible stench. Those who have “visited” heaven talk about light, fragrance and lightness.
Where are the souls of dead people?
The clergy and doctors who communicated with such people noticed an interesting feature: those who “visited” heaven returned to their physical body enlightened and calm, and those who “saw” hell tried for a very long time to recover from the nightmare. Experts summarized all the evidence and memories of “dead” people, after which they concluded that heaven and hell really exist, with the first being at the top and the second at the bottom. Everything is exactly the same as in the description of the afterlife according to the Bible and the Koran. As we see, there is no consensus. And this is absolutely fair. Moreover, the Bible says that “the day of judgment will come, and the dead will rise from their graves.” Friends, we can only hope that the zombie apocalypse will not happen in our century!
So, friends, we have looked at some aspects of a person. I tried to present as accurately as possible some of the opinions of modern scientists regarding this problem. Now let's get serious. Do you know what happens to the soul when a person dies? So I don’t know! To be honest, no one knows the answer to this question: neither I, nor you, friends, nor scientists... We can only speculate, based on certain unproven facts of clinical death of people. There is no direct evidence of life after death or death after death, so we can only operate with unproven arguments that science provides us. As they say, all the dead take a secret with them to the grave...
Sometimes we want to believe that loved ones who have left us are watching over us from heaven. In this article, we will look at theories about the afterlife and find out whether there is a grain of truth in the statement that the dead see us after death.
When someone close to us dies, the living want to know whether the dead can hear or see us after physical death, whether it is possible to contact them and get answers to questions. There are many real stories that support this hypothesis. They talk about the intervention of the other world in our lives. Different religions also do not deny that the souls of the dead are close to loved ones.
Our connection with the dead is not interrupted, but only temporarily weakened
There are special days in the year when the entire Church with reverence and love prayerfully remembers everyone “from the beginning,” i.e. at all times, the dead of their fellow believers. According to the Charter of the Orthodox Church, such commemoration of the dead is performed on Saturdays. And this is no coincidence. We know that it was on Holy Saturday, on the eve of His Resurrection, that the Lord Jesus Christ remained dead in the tomb.
This touching custom is rooted in the deep belief of Orthodox Christians that man is immortal and his soul, once born, will live forever, that the death we see is a temporary sleep, a sleep for the flesh, and a time of rejoicing for the liberated soul. There is no death, the Church tells us, there is only a transition, repose from this world to another world... And each of us has already experienced such a transition once. When, in the tremors and pangs of birth, a person leaves the cozy womb of his mother, he suffers, suffers and screams. His flesh suffers and trembles before the unknown and horror of the future life... And as it is said in the Gospel: “When a woman gives birth, she endures sorrow, because her hour has come, but when she gives birth to a baby, she no longer remembers the sorrow for joy, because a man was born in world." The soul suffers and trembles in the same way when it leaves the cozy bosom of its body. But very little time passes, and the expression of grief and suffering on the face of the deceased disappears, his face brightens and calms down. The soul was born into another world! That is why we can, with our prayer, wish our deceased loved ones a blissful repose there, in peace and light, where there is no illness, no sadness, no sighing, but endless life...
Do the dead see us after death - theories
In order to accurately answer this question, we need to consider the main theories about what happens to the soul after death. Considering the version of each religion will be quite difficult and time-consuming. So there is an unofficial division into two main subgroups. The first says that after death, eternal bliss awaits us in “another place.”
The second is about the complete rebirth of the soul, about new life and new opportunities. And in both options, there is the possibility that the dead see us after death. The hardest thing to understand is if you think the second theory is correct. But it’s worth thinking about and answering the question - how often do you have dreams about people you’ve never seen in your life?
Strange personalities and images that communicate with you as if they have known you for a long time. Or they don’t pay attention to you at all, allowing you to calmly watch from the sidelines. Some believe that these are just people whom we see every day, and who are simply inexplicably deposited in our subconscious. But where then do those aspects of personality that you cannot know about come from? They talk to you in a certain way that is unfamiliar to you, using words you have never heard. Where does this come from?
It's easy to appeal to the subconscious part of our brain, because no one can say with certainty what exactly is happening there. But this is a logical crutch, nothing more and nothing less.
There is also the possibility that this is a memory of people you knew in a past life. But often the situation in such dreams is strikingly reminiscent of our modern times. How could your past life look the same as your current life? The most reliable version, according to many opinions, says that these are your dead relatives visiting you in your dreams. They have already moved on to another life, but sometimes they also see you, and you see them. Where are they talking from? From a parallel world, or from another version of reality, or from another body - there is no definite answer to this question. But one thing is for sure - this is the way of communication between souls that are separated by an abyss. After all, our dreams are amazing worlds where the subconscious walks freely, so why shouldn’t it look into the light? Moreover, there are dozens of practices that allow you to calmly travel in dreams. Many people have experienced similar feelings. This is one version.
The second concerns the worldview, which says that the souls of the dead go to another world. To Heaven, to Nirvana, the ephemeral world, reunite with the general mind - there are a great many such views. They have one thing in common - a person who has moved to another world receives a huge number of opportunities. And since he is connected by bonds of emotions, common experiences and goals with those who remain in the world of the living, naturally he can communicate with us. See us and try to help somehow. More than once or twice you can hear stories about how dead relatives or friends warned people about great dangers, or advised what to do in a difficult situation. How to explain this?
There is a theory that this is our intuition, appearing at the moment when the subconscious is most accessible. It takes a form close to us and they try to help, warn. But why does it take the form of dead relatives? Not the living, not those with whom we have live communication right now, but the emotional connection is stronger than ever. No, not them, but those who died, long ago or recently. There are cases when people are warned by relatives whom they have almost forgotten - a great-grandmother seen only a few times, or a long-dead cousin. There can be only one answer - this is a direct connection with the souls of the dead, who in our consciousness acquire the physical form that they had during life.
And there is a third version, which is not heard as often as the first two. She says that the first two are true. Unites them. It turns out she's doing quite well. After death, a person finds himself in another world, where he prospers as long as he has someone to help him. As long as he is remembered, as long as he can penetrate someone’s subconscious. But human memory is not eternal, and the moment comes when the last relative who remembered him at least occasionally dies. At such a moment, a person is reborn to begin a new cycle, to acquire a new family and acquaintances. Repeat this whole circle of mutual assistance between the living and the dead.
What does a person see after death?
Having understood the first question, you need to constructively approach the next one - what does a person see after death? As in the first case, no one can say with complete confidence what exactly appears before our eyes at this mournful moment. There are many stories of people who have experienced clinical death. Stories about a tunnel, gentle light and voices. It is from them, according to the most authoritative sources, that our posthumous experience is formed. In order to shed more light on this picture, it is necessary to generalize all the stories about clinical death and find intersecting information. And derive the truth as a certain common factor. What does a person see after death?
Right before his death, a certain crescendo, the highest note, comes in his life. The limit of physical suffering is when the thought begins to fade little by little and eventually goes out completely. Often the last thing he hears is the doctor announcing cardiac arrest. Vision fades completely, gradually turning into a tunnel of light, and then becoming covered in final darkness.
The second stage - the person seems to appear above his body. Most often he hangs several meters above him, able to examine physical reality down to the last detail. How the doctors are trying to save his life, what they do and say. All this time he is in a state of severe emotional shock. But when the storm of emotions calms down, he understands what happened to him. It is at this moment that changes occur to him that cannot be reversed. Namely, a person humbles himself. He comes to terms with his situation and understands that even in this state there is still a way forward. More precisely - up.
What a person sees and feels when the physical body dies can only be judged by the stories of those who have experienced clinical death. The stories of many patients whom doctors were able to save have much in common. They all talk about similar sensations:
- A man watches other people bending over his body from the side.
- At first one feels strong anxiety, as if the soul does not want to leave the body and say goodbye to the usual earthly life, but then calm comes.
- Pain and fear disappear, the state of consciousness changes.
- The person doesn't want to go back.
- After passing through a long tunnel, a creature appears in a circle of light and calls for you.
Scientists believe that these impressions do not relate to what the person who has passed on to another world feels. They explain such visions as a hormonal surge, the effects of medications, and brain hypoxia. Although different religions, describing the process of separation of the soul from the body, talk about the same phenomena - observing what is happening, the appearance of an angel, saying goodbye to loved ones.
What does the soul see after death?
When dealing with the most important moment of the whole story, namely, what the soul sees after death, you need to understand an important point. It is at that second when a person resigns himself to his fate and accepts it that he ceases to be a person and becomes a soul. Until this moment, his spiritual body looked exactly the same as his physical body looks in reality. But, realizing that the shackles of the physical no longer hold his spiritual body, it begins to lose its original outlines. After which the souls of his dead relatives begin to appear around him. Even here they try to help him, so that the person moves on to the next plane of his existence.
E. Barker, in his book, published unique materials that describe detailed observations of a man who made a simply amazing attempt to convey to paper his impressions of the time spent in the other world. He did all this using automatic writing, that is, when someone invisible, that is, a deceased person, wrote with the hand of a living person. Of course, if recently someone tried to report this to the masses, he would be considered simply crazy, but today such statements have the right to exist. After all, every day there is more and more evidence and evidence that life after death still exists, and deceased people can see and hear their relatives even after death.
And, when the soul moves on, a strange creature comes to it, which cannot be described in words. All that can be understood with absolute certainty is that all-consuming love and a desire to help emanate from him. Some who have been abroad say that this is our common, first ancestor - the one from whom all people on earth descended. He is in a hurry to help the dead man who still does not understand anything. The creature asks questions, but not with a voice, but with images. It plays out a person’s entire life, but in reverse order.
It is at this moment that he realizes that he has approached some kind of barrier. It is not visible, but it can be felt. Like some kind of membrane, or thin partition. Reasoning logically, we can come to the conclusion that this is exactly what separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. But what happens behind it? Alas, such facts are not available to anyone. This is because the person who experienced clinical death never crossed this line. Somewhere near her, doctors brought him back to life.
TOP 10 SENSATIONS THAT A PERSON EXPERIENCES AFTER DEATH (Clinical death)
There are stories that say that a person who was pulled out of that world attacked the doctors with his fists. He did not want to part with the feelings he experienced there. Some even committed suicide, but much later. It is worth saying that such haste is unnecessary. Each of us will have to feel and see what is there, beyond the last threshold. But before that, each person will have many experiences that are worth experiencing. And while there are no other facts, we must remember that we only have one life. Awareness of this should push every person to become kinder, smarter and wiser.
Is it true that dead people can see us?
To answer whether deceased relatives and other people see us, we need to study different theories about the afterlife. Christianity talks about two opposite places where the soul can go after death - heaven and hell. Depending on how a person lived, how righteously, he is rewarded with eternal bliss or doomed to endless suffering for his sins. When discussing whether the dead see us after death, we should turn to the Bible, which says that souls resting in paradise remember their lives, can observe earthly events, but do not experience passions. People who were recognized as saints after death appear to sinners, trying to guide them on the true path. According to esoteric theories, the spirit of the deceased has a close connection with loved ones only when he has unfulfilled tasks.
In the memoirs of the holy confessor Nicholas, Metropolitan of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan, there is the following story: Once Vladyka, answering the question of whether the dead hear our prayers, said that they not only hear, but “they themselves pray for us. And even more than that: they see us as we are in the depths of our hearts, and if we live piously, they rejoice, and if we live carelessly, then they grieve and pray to God for us. Our connection with them is not interrupted, but only temporarily weakened.” Then the Bishop told an incident that confirmed his words.
The priest, father Vladimir Strakhov, served in one of the Moscow churches. After finishing the Liturgy, he lingered in the church. All the worshipers left, only he and the psalm-reader remained. An old woman enters, modestly but cleanly dressed, in a dark dress, and turns to the priest with a request to go and give communion to her son. Gives the address: street, house number, apartment number, first and last name of this son. The priest promises to fulfill this today, takes the Holy Gifts and goes to the indicated address. He goes up the stairs and rings the bell. An intelligent-looking man with a beard, about thirty years old, opens the door for him. He looks at the priest somewhat surprised. “What do you want?” - “I was asked to come to this address to see a patient.” He is even more surprised. “I live here alone, there is no one sick, and I don’t need a priest!” The priest was also amazed. "How so? After all, here is the address: street, house number, apartment number. What is your name?" It turns out that the name is the same. “Allow me to come in to you.” - "Please!" The priest comes in, sits down, says that the old woman came to invite him, and during his story he looks up at the wall and sees a large portrait of this same old woman. “Yes, here she is! She was the one who came to me!” - he exclaims. “Have mercy! - the owner of the apartment objects. “Yes, this is my mother, she died 15 years ago!” But the priest continues to claim that he saw her today. We started talking. The young man turned out to be a student at Moscow University and had not received communion for many years. “However, since you have already come here, and all this is so mysterious, I am ready to confess and take communion,” he finally decides. The confession was long and sincere - one might say, for my entire adult life. With great satisfaction, the priest absolved him of his sins and introduced him to the Holy Mysteries. He left, and during Vespers they came to tell him that this student had unexpectedly died, and the neighbors came to ask the priest to serve the first requiem. If the mother had not taken care of her son from the afterlife, he would have gone into eternity without receiving the Holy Mysteries.”
Does the soul of a deceased person see his loved ones?
After death, the life of the body ends, but the soul continues to live. Before going to heaven, she stays with her loved ones for another 40 days, trying to console them and ease the pain of loss. Therefore, in many religions it is customary to schedule a funeral for this time in order to escort the soul to the world of the dead. It is believed that ancestors see and hear us even many years after death. Priests advise not to speculate about whether the dead see us after death, but to try to grieve less about the loss, because the suffering of relatives is difficult for the deceased.
Can the soul of the deceased come to visit?
When the connection between loved ones was strong during life, this relationship is difficult to interrupt. Relatives can feel the presence of the deceased and even see his silhouette. This phenomenon is called a phantom or ghost. Another theory says that the spirit comes to visit for communication only in a dream, when our body is asleep and our soul is awake. During this period, you can ask for help from deceased relatives.
Can a deceased person become a guardian angel?
After the loss of a loved one, the pain of loss can be very great. I would like to know if our deceased relatives can hear us and tell us about their troubles and sorrows. Religious teaching does not deny that dead people become guardian angels for their kind. However, in order to receive such an appointment, a person during his lifetime must be a deeply religious person, not sin and follow God’s commandments. Often the guardian angels of a family become children who left early, or people who devoted themselves to worship.
Is there a connection with the dead?
According to people with psychic abilities, there is a connection between the real world and the afterlife, and it is very strong, so it is possible to perform such an action as talking to the deceased. To contact the deceased from the other world, some psychics conduct spiritualistic séances, where you can communicate with a deceased relative and ask him questions.
In Christianity and many other religions, the possibility of inducing a resting spirit through some kind of manipulation is completely denied. It is believed that all souls that come to earth belong to people who committed many sins during their lifetime or who did not receive repentance. According to Orthodox tradition, if you dream of a relative who has gone to another world, then you need to go to church in the morning and light a candle and help him find peace with prayer.
Video on the topic
Can the souls of dead people see us? Priest Nikolai Karov
Can the deceased see and hear us? (Protege Vladimir Golovin, Bolgar)
Having compiled all the main versions that humanity currently has, we can answer with certainty - yes, the dead can see us. But it is worth remembering that everything described above is only a compilation of the most popular theories, and not the only correct answer.
Is it possible to find out where the soul of a loved one ended up after death?
Probably, every person wants to believe that his loved ones reach heavenly abodes after death, enjoying the blessings of heaven together with the holy saints, and do not at all want to believe that the person’s soul has gone to hell. Every time, hearing from different people the question about whether it is possible to find out where the soul of a loved one ended up after death, you have to think about it in order to give an answer to this question, which seems to not require special consideration. It would seem that what could be simpler than to say: if a person sinned, that means he will go to hell; if he lived righteously, that means he will go to heaven? But it's not that simple. We cannot pronounce a verdict on the afterlife fate of the soul for God. Only the Lord executes judgment on man. Therefore, all reflections in this article have the right to exist only as assumptions. In different cultures one can observe completely different descriptions of the afterlife of people. And even within the culture itself, sometimes there are differences in the description of the life of the soul after death. Therefore, in this article I will try to consider the question raised above only in the light of Orthodox doctrine about the afterlife of man.
So, what do we know about the life of the soul after death? Holy Scripture teaches that after the death of a person the soul continues to live, feel and think. “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for with Him all are alive,” said Christ (Matt. 22:32; Eccl. 12:7). Death, being a temporary separation from the body, is called in the Holy Scriptures either departure, separation, or dormition (2 Pet. 1:15; Phil. 1:23; 2 Tim. 4:6; Acts 13:36). It is clear that the word “dormition” (sleep) does not refer to the soul, but to the body, which after death seems to rest from its labors. The soul, having been separated from the body, continues its conscious life as before. Academically speaking, according to church teaching, the soul spends the first three days on earth, near the places where it lived. From the third to the ninth day it ascends to worship God and experience the beauties of paradise. From the ninth to the fortieth day she watches hell, after which the time of God's private judgment comes. The separation of the soul from the body is temporary - until the general resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment. Therefore, a person can achieve the full enjoyment of heavenly blessings or undergo hellish torment only after the Judgment. Now the souls of dead people are awaiting the Second Coming of Christ. The Orthodox Church teaches about the state of the soul before the general resurrection: “We believe that the souls of the dead are blissful or tormented according to their deeds. Having been separated from the body, they immediately move on either to joy or to sadness and sorrow. However, they do not feel either perfect bliss or perfect torment, for everyone will receive perfect bliss or perfect torment after the general resurrection, when the soul is united with the body in which it lived virtuously or viciously” (Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith, part 18). I would like to especially note that a person will not be given a new body, but the soul will unite with exactly the body that belonged to it before, but renewed and incorruptible, adapted for new conditions of existence. Thus, God will honor the fullness of heavenly bliss or will forever imprison a person in fiery hell, and not just his soul. We believe that the final fate of man before the Last Judgment has not yet been determined, therefore the Church calls for prayer for its faithful children, thus granting sinners relief from hellish torment or glorification of the righteous in heavenly abodes. Acting in such a wise way, remembering that with God everyone is alive (Luke 20:38), the Church does not give a specific answer for each person to the question of where his soul ends up after the first forty days after death, leaving this only to God's mercy. However, we can say with confidence that the souls of people are either in heaven or in hell. This is evidenced by the testimonies of people who, by the grace of God, were rewarded with visions of heavenly abodes or fiery hell even before death. Here is the testimony of Salvius of Albi, a 6th-century Gallic hierarch who came back to life after being dead for most of the day: “When my cell was shaken four days ago and you saw me dead, I was lifted up by two Angels and carried to the highest peak of Heaven , and then under my feet it seemed that not only this miserable earth was visible, but also the sun, the moon and the stars. Then I was led through a gate that shone brighter than the sun, and into a building where all the floors glittered with gold and silver. It is impossible to describe that light. This place was filled with people and stretched so far in all directions that there was no end in sight. The angels cleared a path for me through this crowd, and we entered the place to which our gaze had been directed even when we were not far away. A bright cloud hovered over this place, which was brighter than the sun, and from it I heard a voice like the voice of many waters. Then I was greeted by certain beings, some of whom were dressed in priestly robes, and others in ordinary dress. My escorts explained to me that these were martyrs and other saints. While I stood, such a pleasant fragrance enveloped me that, as if imbued with it, I did not feel the need for either food or drink. Then a voice from the cloud said: “Let this man return to earth, for the Church needs him.” And I fell prostrate on the ground and cried. “Alas, alas, Lord,” I said. “Why did you show me all this only to take it away from me again?” But the voice answered: “Go in peace. I will look at you until I return you to this place again.” Then, crying, I went back through the gate through which I had entered.” Salvius of Albia saw many people, inhabitants of the heavenly abodes. Undoubtedly, these were the souls of those people who, through their godly lives, were worthy of staying in paradise.
In the testimonies of visions of hell there are also passages that indicate that the souls of sinners are there in terrible torment. Here, for example, is a story from the book “From the Letters of the Svyatogorets”: “One paralytic, having suffered for many years, finally prayed to the Lord with a request to stop his suffering. An angel appeared to him and said: “Your sins require cleansing. The Lord offers you, instead of one year of suffering on earth, by which you would be purified, to experience three hours of torment in hell. Choose." The sufferer thought and chose three hours in hell. After this, the Angel carried his soul to the underworld of hell. Everywhere there was darkness, cramped conditions, everywhere there were spirits of evil, the cries of sinners, everywhere there was only suffering. The soul of the paralytic fell into inexpressible fear and languor; his cries were answered only by the echo of hell and the bubbling of the flames of hell. No one paid attention to his groans and roars; all the sinners were busy with their own torment. It seemed to the sufferer that entire centuries had already passed and that the Angel had forgotten about him. But finally an Angel appeared and asked: “How do you feel, brother?” - "You fooled me! - exclaimed the sufferer. “Not for three hours, but for many years I have been here in unspeakable torment!” - “What years?!” “- the Angel asked, “only one hour has passed, and you still have to suffer for two more hours.” Then the sufferer began to beg the Angel to return him to earth, where he agreed to suffer for as many years as he wanted, just to leave this place of horrors. “Okay,” answered the Angel, “God will show His great mercy to you.” Finding himself again on his painful bed, the sufferer from that time on endured his suffering with meekness, remembering the hellish horrors, where it was incomparably worse.” It is interesting that in hell sinners are exclusively occupied with themselves and their torment, while in paradise the constant universal glorification of God takes place. This, apparently, occurs due to the addiction of souls to sin, the manifestation of pride and passionate desires, which even during life force a person to think only about the pleasure of his own “I”. It would be logical to assume that each sinner will have “his own” hell, “his own” torment, based solely on his own sins. In paradise, the constant praise and glorification of God is a completely logical and correct end to the earthly life of a righteous man, who throughout his life tried to please God and be closer to him.
So, having examined the Orthodox teaching about the posthumous fate of human souls, it is worth remembering that not all of our loved ones are respectable Orthodox Christians who hope to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. And in general, most people cannot be classified either as notorious sinners or as absolute righteous people. One thing we know for sure is that there are no sinless people. Nevertheless, most of our contemporaries live following some of their internal principles, some moral code, usually instilled by their parents from childhood. But at the same time, they do not consider it necessary to somehow show their feelings towards God. Usually the position of these people can be defined in one phrase: “I believe in God, but don’t stop me from believing the way I want, and don’t force me to do what I should do.” The position, let’s say, is not the most correct, but still requires consideration and amendment, since some of the people who think in this way eventually end up in the Church and become respectable Orthodox Christians. It is safe to say that the moral foundations of this category of people have their basis precisely in the Holy Scriptures, in the commandments of God. But the lack of religious education, or its complete absence, leaves these people at a crossroads in search of true faith in God. Usually they either begin to persistently search for God, and often search in sects or occult teachings, or, completely confused, abandon this activity altogether and prefer to believe in some abstract God, who seems to exist, but at the same time He does not influence them in any way. life. In this case, I would like to remember the words of Ap. James: “But someone will say, “You have faith, but I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith without my works. You believe that God is one: you do well; and the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, unfounded person, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith cooperated with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the word of Scripture was fulfilled: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.” Do you see that a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone? Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, receiving the spies and sending them away another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (James 2:18-26). What good does it do to a person if he believes in God, but does not bring himself one iota closer to the Kingdom of Heaven?
There are other people - these are representatives of other religious beliefs, as well as people who do not believe in God at all, atheists. It seems that in the case of the latter, everything is more or less clear - denial of the existence of God or even a militant attitude towards faith and believers cannot but affect the afterlife of these people. It is enough to remember what the fall of the first people led to, the crime of just one commandment of abstinence. Death entered people's lives, and it took the Savior's Redemptive Sacrifice to open the doors to heaven for people again. So what can a complete denial of this Sacrifice, a denial of the Creator Himself, lead to? This position of denying God is to some extent similar to denying the existence of one’s own parents or neglecting them. If humanity looks at people who do not honor their parents, at a minimum with condemnation, and at most with contempt, then what should be God’s attitude towards these people? Therefore, it is quite logical to say that atheists cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Moreover, they don’t believe in him. We cannot say anything at all about representatives of other faiths, except to repeat the words of the Savior: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; and whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). It seems that the most correct thing would be to no longer delve into thoughts about the afterlife of atheists and people of other faiths, remembering the words of St. Paul: “God judges those who are outside” (1 Cor. 5:13), but simply quote an excerpt from the story of the miraculous revelation of Angels to Macarius of Alexandria: “But this does not happen with souls who have not received Holy Baptism. After separating these unenlightened souls from the body, the inexorable Angels, taking them, severely beat them and say: “Come here, wicked soul, know now, condemned to eternal torment.” And they delight her to the first heaven, set her up and show from afar the glory of the Angels and all the heavenly powers, saying: “The Lord of all powers is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, whom you did not want to know and honor with worship. Go away from here to the wicked like you and to their prince the devil, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, whom you worshiped as gods in life.”
It is worth drawing the reader’s attention to another, in my opinion, important point regarding the question of the afterlife fate of the soul. Usually, after the death of a relative, loved ones want to know what the fate of his soul is. The devil knows this desire, and he can show a dead person in good condition, in white robes, in paradise. This can happen in a dream, when a person is most vulnerable. The relatives of the deceased may not notice such deception, especially if they want to see him in a dream or simply hope to see some sign telling them about the afterlife fate of the deceased. Therefore, the Holy Fathers strictly forbid wishing to see a dead person in a dream. If we see him (as the demon can show him) in the saints, then our desire to pray for him will stop, we will think that he is already in heaven. But in fact, this may be far from the case, and the soul of the deceased at this moment, on the contrary, really needs prayer. Therefore, the Church calls us, no matter what, to pray for the departed, and the Lord Himself will manage everything, if it is His Holy will.
But sometimes, to support the spirit of some people, the Lord shows the fate of the soul. However, this happens extremely rarely. Here is one such example: “One daughter’s father died, and she saw him dead. She began to pray earnestly for him, and again she was shown that he was slowly beginning to come to life. She constantly served the Divine Liturgy in his memory, and after forty days she saw that he got up from his sick bed - covered in sores. She prayed again for several years, and the Lord showed her that these ulcers began to heal. She prayed some more, and one day she saw her father in white robes; he smiled and said: “Thank you, daughter, for your prayers, for alms, for the Psalter - for everything good” (Kazan diocese, www.kazan.eparhia.ru). This example very clearly shows how necessary prayer is for the soul of the deceased.
Archpriest Valentin Ulyakhin writes: “The Lord has designed the human soul in such a way that it is capable of perceiving a certain trend while in a subtle sleep. And this is especially true when the deceased visit us, when in a dream - and such dreams cannot be rejected, although they should not be taken to heart - the deceased come to us and ask for prayer. We read about such communication with the dead in the lives of many saints. And the prayer of faith, especially the conciliar prayer of the Church, works miracles...
The situation of the one for whom you pray improves. I think the Lord works miracles mysteriously, through death: he leads people to the knowledge of His holy name and, through the prayer of the Church, improves the situation of those who, it would seem, are completely hopelessly going into eternity.”
Having established ourselves in the Orthodox teaching about the afterlife of the soul, strengthened by the belief that the Lord is free to perform a miracle, granting the sinner relief from hellish torment through the prayers of the Church for him, we will “look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the Life of the Future Age,” when we will all be able to personally see the Lord Christ and receive according to your faith and deeds at the Last Judgment of Christ.
Priest Dionisy Svechnikov
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