Nowadays, we often hear that there is no eternal life, that the other world is a fiction, and for a person everything ends in death. Yes, the law of death is common to all humanity. Death is inevitable for one and all. But with physical death, life is not completed. For Orthodox Christians, the future afterlife is an indisputable truth, this is the teaching of the Church. This book, based on the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Church Fathers, provides evidence of the immortality of the soul, talks about ordeals, the bliss of the righteous and the torment of sinners, and collects statements of great scientists and philosophers about the mystery of immortality. The book is recommended by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
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The given introductory fragment of the book Future afterlife: Orthodox teaching (V. M. Zobern, 2012) provided by our book partner - the company liters.
How our dead live
Chapter 1 Definition of the afterlife. Places of afterlife for souls. Periods of the afterlife
What is the afterlife, what is life after death like? The Word of God is the source for resolving our question. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness(Matt. 6:33).
The Holy Scripture presents to us the afterlife as a continuation of the earthly one, but in a new world and in completely new conditions. Jesus Christ teaches that the Kingdom of God is within us. If good and pious people have heaven in their hearts, then evil people have hell in their hearts. So, the afterlife state, that is, heaven and hell, have their correspondence on earth, which constitutes, as it were, the beginning of the eternal life after death. The nature of the afterlife can be determined by how and what the soul lives on earth. By the moral state of souls here we can first learn about their afterlife state.
Meekness and humility fill the soul with heavenly peace. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls(Matthew 11:29), taught the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of heavenly - blissful, calm, serene - life on earth.
The state of a person subject to passions, as a state unnatural for him, contrary to his nature, inconsistent with the will of God, is a reflection of moral torment. This is the eternal, unstoppable development of the passionate state of the soul - envy, pride, love of money, voluptuousness, gluttony, hatred and laziness, which makes the soul dead even on earth, unless it is cured in time by repentance and opposition to passion.
The afterlife, that is, heaven and hell, have their correspondence on earth, which constitutes, as it were, the beginning of the eternal life after death.
Each of us who is attentive to ourselves has experienced these two internal spiritual states of the soul. Dispassionate is when the soul is embraced by something unearthly, full of spiritual joy, making a person ready for any virtue, even to the point of self-sacrifice for Heaven; and passionate is a state that brings a person to readiness for all lawlessness and destroys human nature, both spiritual and physical.
When a person dies, his body is interred like a seed to germinate. It, like a treasure, is hidden in a cemetery until a certain time. The human soul, which is the image and likeness of the Creator - God, passes from earth to the afterlife and lives there. Behind the grave we are all alive, because God... is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for with Him all are alive(Luke 20:38).
The wondrous Providence of God clearly shows that man was created for immortality. Our earthly life is the beginning, preparation for the afterlife, endless life.
With the modern development of science, the spiritual and moral decline has become so deep that the truth of the existence of the soul beyond the grave has even been forgotten and the purpose of our life has begun to be forgotten. Now a person is faced with a choice of whom to believe: the enemy of our salvation, who instills doubt and disbelief in Divine truths, or God, who has promised eternal life to those who believe in Him. If there were no new life after death, then why would earthly life be needed, then why virtue? The wondrous Providence of God clearly shows that man was created for immortality. Our earthly life is the beginning, preparation for the afterlife, endless life.
Belief in a future afterlife is one of the dogmas of Orthodoxy, the twelfth member of the “Creed.” The afterlife is a continuation of this earthly life, only in a new sphere, under completely different conditions; continuation in eternity of the moral development of good - truth, or the development of evil - lies. Just as life on earth either brings a person closer to God or moves him away from Him, so beyond the grave some souls are with God, while others are at a distance from Him. The soul passes into the afterlife, taking with it everything that belongs to it. All the inclinations, good and evil habits, all the passions with which she became close and for which she lived, will not leave her after death. The afterlife is a manifestation of the immortality of the soul, granted to it by the Lord. God created man for incorruptibility and made him the image of His eternal existence(Wis. 2, 23).
The concepts of eternity and immortality of the soul are inextricably linked with the concept of the afterlife. Eternity is time that has neither beginning nor end. From the moment the baby receives life in the womb, eternity opens up for man. He enters it and begins his endless existence.
In the first period of eternity, during the baby's stay in the mother's womb, a body is formed for eternity - the outer man. In the second period of eternity, when a person lives on earth, his soul - the inner man - is formed for eternity. Thus, earthly life serves as the beginning of the third period of eternity - the afterlife, which is an endless continuation of the moral development of the soul. For man, eternity has a beginning, but no end.
True, before the enlightenment of humanity with the light of the Christian faith, the concepts of “eternity”, “immortality” and “afterlife” had false and crude forms. Both Christianity and many other religions promise man eternity, immortality of the soul and an afterlife - happy or unhappy. Consequently, the future life, which is a continuation of the present, completely depends on it. According to the teaching of the Lord, he who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God(John 3:18). If here on earth the soul accepts the Source of life, the Lord Jesus Christ, this relationship will be eternal. Its future after death will depend on what the soul strived for on earth - for good or for evil, since these qualities, together with the soul, go into eternity. However, the afterlife of some souls, whose fate has not been finally decided in a private court, is interconnected with the lives of their loved ones remaining on earth.
Eternity, the immortality of the soul, and, consequently, its afterlife are universal human concepts. They are in close connection with the creeds of all peoples, all times and countries, no matter what degree of moral and mental development they are at. Ideas about the afterlife differ from one another at different times and among different peoples. Tribes at low levels of development imagined the afterlife in primitive, crude forms and filled it with sensual pleasures. Others considered the afterlife dull, devoid of earthly joys; it was called the kingdom of shadows. The ancient Greeks had this idea; they believed that souls were aimlessly existing, wandering shadows.
Its future after death will depend on what the soul strived for on earth - for good or for evil, since these qualities, together with the soul, go into eternity.
And here is how the festival of the dead in Nagasaki is described: “At dusk, the inhabitants of Nagasaki go in processions to various cemeteries. Lighted paper lanterns are placed on the graves, and in a few moments such places are enlivened by fantastic illumination. Relatives and friends of the deceased bring food intended for the deceased. Some of it is eaten alive, and the other is placed on graves. Then food for the dead is placed in small boats and set afloat on the water, along the current, which should bring them to the souls behind the coffin. There, beyond the ocean, according to their ideas, there is paradise” (“Nature and People.” 1878).
The pagans, being firmly convinced of the existence of an afterlife, to calm the dead, brutally deal with prisoners of war, avenging the blood of their murdered relatives. Death is not scary for a pagan. Why? Yes, because he believes in an afterlife!
Famous thinkers of antiquity - Socrates, Cicero, Plato - spoke about the immortality of the soul and the mutual communication of the earthly and afterlife worlds. But they, aware and anticipating their immortality in the afterlife, could not penetrate its secrets. According to Virgil, souls, rushing along the wind, were cleansed of their delusions. Tribes at lower levels of development believe that the souls of the departed, like shadows, wander around their abandoned homes. Realizing the truth of the afterlife of the soul, they hear the languid cry of wandering shadows in the wind. They believed that the soul continued to live a sensual life, so they put food, drink, and weapons in the grave along with the deceased. Little by little, thought and imagination created more or less definite places where the dead were supposed to live. Then, depending on what they strived for during life, for good or for evil, these places began to be divided into two areas that have a vague resemblance to the ideas of heaven and hell.
To prevent souls from remaining lonely in the afterlife, servants were killed at the graves, and the wives of the deceased were stabbed or burned. Mothers poured milk on the graves of their infants. And the Greenlanders, in the event of the death of a child, killed a dog and put it in the grave with him, hoping that the shadow of the dog in the afterlife would serve as his guide. For all their underdevelopment, ancient pagan peoples and modern pagans believe in posthumous reward for earthly deeds. This is described in detail in the works of Pritchard and Alger, who collected many facts about this. L. Caro writes: Even among undeveloped savages, this conviction amazes us with the subtlety of moral feeling, which one cannot help but be surprised at.
The savages of the island of Fiji, who are considered the least developed among other tribes, are convinced that the soul after death appears before a court of justice. In all mythological tales, almost all peoples have an idea of the initial test of souls that precedes their judgment. According to the Huron Indians, the souls of the dead must first go through a path full of all sorts of dangers. They need to cross a fast river on a thin crossbar that trembles under their feet. A ferocious dog on the other side prevents them from crossing and tries to throw them into the river. Then they must walk along a path that winds between swaying stones that may fall on them. According to African savages, the souls of good people on the path to deity are persecuted by evil spirits. Therefore, they developed the custom of making sacrifices for the dead to these evil spirits. In classical mythology, we meet at the doors of hell the three-headed Cerberus, who can be appeased with offerings. The savages of New Guinea are convinced that two spirits - good and evil - accompany the soul after its death. After some time, a wall blocks their path. A good soul, with the help of a good spirit, easily flies over the wall, and an evil one breaks against it.
All peoples believed that the soul after death continues to exist beyond the grave. They believed that she had a connection with the living still remaining on earth. And since the afterlife seemed vague and secret to the pagans, the souls themselves who went there aroused some kind of fear and mistrust in the living. Believing in the inseparability of the spiritual union of the dead and the living, in the fact that the dead can influence the living, they sought to appease the inhabitants of the afterlife and awaken in them love for the living. From here arose special religious rituals and spells - necromania, or the imaginary art of summoning the souls of the dead.
In all mythological tales, almost all peoples have an idea of the initial test of souls that precedes their judgment.
Christians base their belief in the immortality of the soul and in the afterlife on the Divine Revelation of the Old and New Testaments, on the teachings of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church, on the concepts of God, the soul and its properties. Hearing the word “death” from God, Adam and Eve immediately realized that they were created immortal.
Since the time of the first man, the art of writing had not been known for a long time, so everything was transmitted orally. Thus, all religious truths, passing from generation to generation, reached Noah, who passed them on to his sons, and they passed them on to their descendants. Consequently, the truth of the immortality of the soul and its eternal life after death was kept in oral tradition until Moses first mentioned it in various places in his Pentateuch.
The fact that the consciousness of the afterlife was common to all humanity is testified by John Chrysostom: “Both Hellenes, barbarians, poets and philosophers, and in general the entire human race agree with our belief that everyone will be rewarded according to their deeds in the future life” (“Conversation 9”) -I on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians"). The Divine Revelation of the Old and New Testaments revealed to man the truth about his personal afterlife existence. Moses wrote: and the Lord said to Abram... and you will go to your fathers in peace and will be buried in a good old age(Gen. 15, 13, 15). It is known that Abraham's body was buried in Canaan, and the body of his father Terah was buried in Haran, and the bodies of Abraham's ancestors were buried in Ur. The bodies rest in different places, and God tells Abraham that he will go to his fathers, that is, his soul will unite behind the grave with the souls of his ancestors who are in Sheol (hell). And Abraham died... and was gathered to his people(Gen. 25:8). Moses describes the death of Isaac in the same way, saying that he venerated his people(Gen. 35, 29). Patriarch Jacob, struck by grief over the death of his beloved son, said: with sorrow I will go down to my son into the underworld(Gen. 37, 35). The word "underworld" means a mysterious afterlife. Jacob, feeling the approach of death, said: I am gathered to my people... and died and was gathered to my people(Gen. 49, 29, 33).
Christians base their belief in the immortality of the soul and in the afterlife on the Divine Revelation of the Old and New Testaments, on the teachings of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church, on the concepts of God, the soul and its properties.
God commanded Moses to prepare his brother Aaron for his departure from earthly life: let Aaron be gathered to his people... let Aaron go away and die(Numbers 20, 24, 26). Then the Lord said to Moses: vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel, and then you will go back to your people(Numbers 27:13; 31:2). All the people of Korah, according to the word of Moses, were swallowed up by the earth, and they went down with all that belonged to them alive into the pit(Numbers 16, 32, 33). The Lord said to King Josiah: I will add you to your fathers(2 Kings 22, 20). Why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb?- Job exclaimed in the midst of his temptations. – Now I would lie down and rest; I would sleep, and I would be at peace with the kings and advisers of the earth who built deserts for themselves, or with the princes who had gold... The small and the great are equal there, and the slave is free from his master... I know yu, says Job, “My Redeemer lives, and on the last day He will raise this decaying skin of mine from the dust, and I will see God in my flesh.”(Job 19, 25, 26; 3, 11–19).
The king and prophet David testifies that the dead can no longer help themselves; the living must pray for them: in the grave who will praise you?(Ps. 6, 6). Righteous Job said: before I'm coming ...to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, to the land of darkness and what is the darkness of the shadow of death, where there is no structure where it's dark as darkness itself(Job 10, 21, 22). And in the dust will return to the ground, which is what it was; and the spirit returned to God, who gave it (Eccl. 12:7). The quotations from the Holy Scriptures given here refute the incorrect opinion that the Old Testament says nothing about the immortality of the soul, about its afterlife. This false opinion was refuted by Professor Khvolson, who conducted research in Crimea on the graves and tombstones of Jews who died before the birth of Christ. The gravestone inscriptions reveal the living faith of the Jews in the immortality of the soul and in the afterlife. This important discovery also disproves another absurd hypothesis, that the Jews borrowed the idea of the immortality of the soul from the Greeks.
Evidence and indisputable proof of the truth of the immortality of the soul and its afterlife is the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. He visually, tangibly, irrefutably proved to the whole world that eternal life exists. The New Testament is the restoration of man's lost unity with God for eternal life, for life that begins for man beyond the grave.
Jesus Christ resurrected the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, the four-day-old Lazarus. Another fact confirming the existence of the afterlife is the appearance of the prophets Elijah and Moses during the glorious transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. Having revealed to man the secrets of the afterlife, the immortality of the soul, the fate of the righteous and sinners, the Lord, by His teaching, life, suffering, the redemption of man from eternal death and, finally, by His Resurrection, showed us all immortality.
There is no death for those who believe in Christ. Her triumph is destroyed by the Resurrection of Christ. The cross is the instrument of our salvation, the Divine glory of Christ. What does it mean, for example, a cross placed on a grave? A visible sign, the conviction that the one resting under this cross did not die, but lives, because his death was defeated by the Cross and eternal life was granted to him by the same Cross. Is it possible to take the life of an immortal? The Savior, pointing to our highest purpose on earth, says: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul(Matt. 10:28). This means the soul is immortal. (Luke 20:38). Whether we live, we live for the Lord; whether we die, we die for the Lord: and therefore, whether we live or die, we are always the Lord’s(Rom. 14:8), testifies the Apostle Paul.
One of the facts confirming the existence of the afterlife is the appearance of the prophets Elijah and Moses during the glorious transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor.
If we are the Lord’s, and our God is the God of the living, and not the dead, then everyone is alive before the Lord: both those who are still on earth and those who have moved to the afterlife. They are alive for God, alive for His Church as its members, for it is said: He who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live(John 11:25). If the dead are alive for the Church, then they are alive for us, for our mind and heart.
The holy apostles, their successors and many saints confirmed with their lives that the soul is immortal and that the afterlife exists. They raised the dead, spoke to them as if they were alive, and addressed them with various questions. For example, the Apostle Thomas asked a murdered young man, the son of a priest, about who killed him, and received an answer. All teachers of the Church considered the afterlife and the desire to save a person from eternal destruction to be an important subject of their teaching. The Church's prayers for the dead testify to its unshakable belief in the afterlife. With the decrease in faith in God, faith in eternal life and reward after death was also lost. So, whoever does not believe in the afterlife does not have faith in God!
God is omnipresent, but there is a special place of His presence where He appears in all His glory and dwells forever with His elect, according to the words of Jesus Christ: where I am, there will my servant also be. And whoever serves Me will be honored by the Father M oh (John 12:26). The opposite is also true: whoever was not a servant of the true God will not be with Him after death, and therefore a special afterlife place in the universe is required for him. Here is the beginning of the teaching about two states of departed souls: the state of reward and punishment.
He who does not believe in the afterlife does not have faith in God!
In the mystery of death, the soul, having separated from the body, passes into the land of spiritual beings, into the kingdom of angels. And depending on the nature of earthly life, she joins either the good angels in the Kingdom of Heaven, or the evil angels in hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself testified to this truth. The prudent robber and the beggar Lazarus immediately after death went to heaven; and the rich man ended up in hell (Luke 23:43; Luke 16:19-31). “We believe,” the Eastern patriarchs proclaim in their “Confession of the Orthodox Faith,” “that the souls of the dead are blissful or tormented, depending on their deeds. Having been separated from the body, they move 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.”
The Word of God reveals to us that souls go to various places beyond the grave. Unrepentant sinners receive their deserved punishment, while the righteous receive a reward from God. The Book of the Wisdom of Solomon sets out the doctrine of a dual afterlife: the righteous live forever; their reward is in the Lord, and their care is with the Most High. Therefore they will receive a kingdom of glory and a crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord, for He will cover them with His right hand and protect them with His arm.(Wis. 5, 15–16). The wicked ones as they thought, so they will suffer punishment for despising the righteous and departing from the Lord (Wis. 3:10).
In the mystery of death, the soul, having separated from the body, passes into the land of spiritual beings, into the kingdom of angels. And depending on the nature of earthly life, she joins either the good angels in the Kingdom of Heaven, or the evil angels in hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself testified to this truth.
The place of residence of righteous souls in the Holy Scriptures is called differently: the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 8:11); Kingdom of God (Luke 13:20; 1 Cor. 15:50); paradise (Luke 23:43), the home of the Heavenly Father. The state of rejected souls, or their place of residence, is called Gehenna, in which the worm does not die and the fire does not go out (Matt. 5:22; Mark 9:43); a fiery furnace, in which there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:50); pitch darkness (Matthew 22:13); hellish darkness (2 Peter 2:4); hell (Isa. 14, 15; Matt. 11, 23); the prison of spirits (1 Peter 3:19); the underworld (Phil. 2:10). The Lord Jesus Christ calls this afterlife state of condemned souls “death,” and the souls of condemned sinners in this state are called “dead,” for death is removal from God, from the Kingdom of Heaven, it is the deprivation of true life and bliss.
The afterlife of a person consists of two periods. The life of the soul before the resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment is the first period, and the eternal life of a person after this Judgment is the second period of the afterlife. According to the teaching of the Word of God, in the second period of the afterlife everyone will have the same age. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself expressed His teaching about this as follows: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for with Him all are alive.(Luke 20:38). This is proof of the eternal continuation of the life of the soul beyond the grave. All people, both living on earth and those who have died, both righteous and unrighteous, are alive. Their life is endless, since they are destined to be witnesses of the eternal glory and power of God, His justice. The Lord Jesus Christ taught that in the afterlife they live like the Angels of God: those who are deemed worthy to reach that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, and can no longer die, for they are equal to the Angels and are with yns of God, being sons of the resurrection(Luke 20:35–36).
Consequently, the afterlife state of the soul is rational, and if souls live like Angels, then their state is active, as our Orthodox Church teaches, and not unconscious and sleepy, as some believe. This false teaching about the passive state of the soul in the first period of its afterlife does not agree with either the Revelation of the Old and New Testaments, or with common sense. It appeared back in the 3rd century in Christian society as a result of the incorrect interpretation of certain passages in the Holy Scriptures. Thus, Arabian scientists, called psychopannihits, believed that the human soul, both during sleep and after separation from the body, in the first period of its afterlife is in a sleepy, unconscious and passive state. This doctrine was widespread in the Middle Ages. During the Reformation, the main representatives of this doctrine were the Anabaptists (re-baptists), whose sect arose in Friesland (in the north of the Netherlands) in 1496. This teaching was further developed by the Socinians, who rejected the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and the Arminians (followers of the teachings of Arminius) in the 17th century.
The afterlife state of the soul is reasonable, and if souls live like Angels, then their state is active, as our Orthodox Church teaches, and not unconscious and sleepy.
Holy Scripture offers us the dogma of the afterlife of the soul and at the same time shows that its state there is independent, reasonable and effective. In the Old Testament, for example, the entire fifth chapter of the Book of Wisdom of Solomon describes the conscious life of the soul in hell. Next, the prophet Isaiah paints a prophetic picture of the Babylonian king entering hell and meeting him there. A picture full of poetry, but at the same time reflecting an intelligent and active afterlife: the hell of the underworld began to move for you, to meet you at your entrance; awakened for you the Rephaim, all the leaders of the earth; raised up all the kings of the heathen from their thrones. They will all tell you: and you have become powerless, like us! and you have become like us! (Isa. 14:9-10.)
A similar poetic picture of Pharaoh’s coming to hell and his meeting with other kings who died before him is depicted by the prophet Ezekiel: Who are you superior to? go down and lie with the uncircumcised. Te p he was among those killed by the sword, and he was given to the sword; draw him and all his multitude. Among the underworld, the first of the heroes will talk about him and his allies; they fell and lie there among the uncircumcised, slain with the sword (Ezek. 32:19-21).
Every person, good and evil, after death continues his personal existence in eternity, as our Holy Church teaches! The soul, passing into the afterlife, carries with it all its passions, inclinations, habits, virtues and vices. All her talents with which she showed herself on earth also remain with her.
Chapter 2 The life of the soul on earth and beyond the grave. Immortality of soul and body
If man were a creation of one nature, as materialists teach, recognizing in him only the material essence and rejecting its main, spiritual part, then why is the work of the spirit visible in his activity? The desire for the beautiful and the good, empathy, and creative abilities show in a person the presence of not only material, but also spiritual nature. As a creation of God, destined to witness the glory and power of his Creator, man cannot be a mortal being in both body and soul. God did not create so that His creation would later be destroyed. The soul and body were created by God, therefore they are immortal.
After the soul is separated from its body, it lives in the spiritual world corresponding to its nature, and the body returns to the earth. Man, placed among the visible and invisible worlds, among nature and spirit, lives and acts both on earth and outside the earth. With the body - on earth, with the mind and heart outside the earth - either in Heaven or in Gehenna. So strong and mysterious is the union of the soul with the body and so strong is their mutual influence that the activity of the soul on earth, directed towards the true, high and beautiful, is greatly weakened by the body, as the Lord testifies: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak(Matt. 26:41). This did not happen immediately after the creation of man, because then everything was perfect, there was no disagreement about anything. The body was destined to become, as it really is, an instrument for the manifestation of the invisible, god-like soul, its powerful powers and amazing activities. Because the spirit is vigorous and the flesh is weak, there is a constant struggle between them. In this struggle, the soul weakens and often, together with the body, morally falls, against its will, deviating from the truth, from its purpose, from the purpose of its life, its natural activity. I don’t do what I want, but what I hate, I do... Poor man I am! who will deliver me from this body of death?- the Apostle Paul cried with sorrow (Rom. 7, 15, 24).
The activity of the soul on earth is, to a greater or lesser extent, a mixture of good and evil, truth and falsehood. The body on earth serves as a hindrance to the soul in its activities. There, behind the grave, in the first period, these obstacles will be eliminated by the absence of the body, and the soul will be able to act according to its aspirations, acquired by it on earth - either good or evil. And in the second period of its afterlife, the soul will act, although under the influence of the body, with which it will again unite, but the body will already change into a subtle, spiritual, incorruptible one, and its influence will even favor the activity of the soul, freed from gross carnal needs and receiving new spiritual ones. properties. Moreover, the Spirit of God Himself, Who searches everything, and the depths of God(1 Cor. 2:10), and he who abides on earth in souls and bodies that love God, much less will he leave the pious behind the grave. And all spiritual forces, under the beneficial action of the Holy Spirit, achieving what they want, will certainly be filled with joy, and the soul will achieve its bliss, its natural destination.
The body on earth serves as a hindrance to the soul in its activities. Beyond the grave, the body will be transformed and will contribute to the work of the soul.
On earth, all the activity of the soul in its pursuit of truth is constantly accompanied by difficulties and sorrows: in the world you will have tribulation; but take heart: I have overcome the world(John 16:33). This is the lot of man on earth after his fall into heaven. This is a destiny once and forever determined by God Himself for Adam (Gen. 3:17), and in his person for all humanity, and given again by the Lord Jesus Christ and for the new spiritual man. The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away(Matt. 11, 12). All virtues, despite the obstacles to their achievement, provide those who strive for them with unearthly spiritual joy, in which the weak body then more or less takes part.
Beyond the grave, the body will be transformed and will contribute to the work of the soul. The evil in which the whole world lay and lies will not exist beyond the grave, and man will be eternally blissful, that is, the activity of his soul will reach its eternal destination. If on earth the true bliss of the soul was achieved by striving for perfect freedom from the triple lust of love of glory, voluptuousness and love of money, then beyond the grave the soul, being free from this evil, will become eternally blissful, as alien to all slavery, all sinful captivity.
The basis of human earthly activity is the invisible internal spiritual work of the soul, so that the visible life of a person reflects the invisible soul and its properties. If the soul, as intended by the Creator Himself, is immortal, that is, continues to live beyond the grave, and life is usually expressed in activity, then it is true that where there is life, there is activity, and where there is activity, there is life. Consequently, the work of the soul continues beyond the grave. What does it consist of there? The same was her activity on earth. Just as spiritual forces acted on earth, so they will act beyond the grave.
The life of the soul is self-consciousness, and the activity of the soul consists of fulfilling spiritual and moral duties. The work of self-awareness consists of the activity of individual mental forces: thinking, desire and feelings. Spiritual inner life consists of the complete self-absorption of the soul into itself, of self-knowledge. The soul, detached from the body and the material world, does not have fun in vain; its forces already act unhindered, striving for the truth. In this form, the Lord Jesus Christ showed the afterlife and the activity of souls in the first period of the afterlife in His parable about the rich man and Lazarus. Their souls think, desire and feel.
If the afterlife is a continuation, a further development of earthly life, then the soul, passing into the afterlife with its earthly inclinations, habits, passions, with all its character, continues its development beyond the grave - good or evil activity, depending on its earthly life. So the earthly work of the soul is only the beginning of its future afterlife activity. True, on earth the soul can change its desire from evil to good and vice versa, but with what it passed into the afterlife, it will develop in eternity. The purpose of the soul’s activity both on earth and beyond the grave is the same desire for truth.
The body and all its organs do what the soul wants, they fulfill its will. This is their natural purpose. The invisible soul acts visually only with the help of the organs of the body. In themselves they are only tools. Therefore, if these organs are taken away from the soul, will it really cease to be a soul? It was not the body that animated the soul, but the soul that animated the body. Consequently, even without a body, without all its external organs, the soul will retain all its strength and abilities.
The soul, passing into the afterlife with its earthly inclinations, habits, passions, with all its character, continues its development beyond the grave - good or evil activity, depending on its earthly life.
The activity of the soul continues beyond the grave, with the only difference being that there it will be incomparably more perfect than on earth. As proof, let us remember that, despite the huge abyss separating heaven from hell, the deceased rich man, who was in hell, saw and recognized the righteous Abraham and Lazarus, who were in heaven. Moreover, he talked with Abraham: Father Abraham! have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame(Luke 16:24).
So, the activity of the soul and all its powers in the afterlife will be much more perfect. Here on earth, we see objects at long distances using optical instruments. And yet the effect of vision has a limit beyond which it, even armed with instruments, does not penetrate. Beyond the grave, the abyss does not prevent the righteous from seeing sinners, and the condemned from seeing the saved. Even on earth, the righteous, through their Christian lives, purified their feelings and reached the natural state in which the first people were before the Fall, and the activity of their righteous souls went far beyond the limits of the visible world. We will find comfort in the afterlife when we will live together forever and will always see each other. The soul, being in the body, has vision, the soul, not the eyes. The soul hears, not the ears. Smell, taste, and touch are felt by the soul, not parts of the body. Consequently, these properties of the soul will be with it beyond the grave, since it is alive and feels the reward or punishment that it will receive for its deeds.
The activity of the human soul, governed by selfless Christian love, has as its goal and destination the Kingdom of Heaven, according to the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness(Matt. 6:33). In every action the name of God must be sanctified, since a person’s life must strive to express His will. This is the natural activity of the soul, which constitutes its purpose, as opposed to sinful activity, contrary to its nature, arising not from the will of God, but from the evil human will. In general, the natural, natural purpose of the activity of the soul is the desire for truth on earth. And since our desires and aspirations are endless, then beyond the grave this desire for the true, good and beautiful will continue into eternity. Pagans, for example Plato, wrote about this purpose of life and activity of the soul: “The worthy and only goal of human life is the achievement of truth.”
All the powers and abilities of the soul, manifested together, constitute its activity. The forces of the soul, acting on earth, with the transition to the afterlife, manifest themselves there. If it is natural for the soul to live in the society of creatures similar to it, if the feelings of the soul are united on earth by God Himself in a union of undying love, then souls do not separate beyond the grave, but, as the Holy Church teaches, they live in the society of other souls. This is the vast family of one Heavenly Father, whose members are the children of God; this is the immeasurable Kingdom of the one Heavenly King, whose members the Church often calls heavenly citizens.
All the powers and abilities of the soul, manifested together, constitute its activity. The forces of the soul, acting on earth, with the transition to the afterlife, manifest themselves there.
The soul, living in society, exists for God, for itself and for its neighbors, other creatures similar to it. These relations of the soul to God, to itself and to other souls produce its double activity: internal and external. The internal activity of the soul is composed of its relationship to God and to itself, and its external activity consists of various relationships to other beings and to everything around it: both in real life on earth and in the afterlife. Such is the double activity of the soul on earth and beyond the grave. The internal activities of the soul are: self-awareness, thinking, knowing, feeling and desire. External activity consists of its various influences on everything around us: on living beings and inanimate objects.
Chapter 3 The inner life of the soul: feelings, mind, memory, will, conscience
The very first degree, or, so to speak, the basis of the activity of the soul, is the activity of its feelings - external and internal. Feeling is the ability of the soul to receive impressions from objects with the help of its external organs - the instruments of its activity. There are six such external organs and their corresponding senses, and three corresponding internal senses.
EXTERNAL SENSE: smell, touch, taste, vision, hearing, sense of balance.
INTERNAL FEELINGS: attention, memory, imagination.
The fulfillment of moral duties, natural for the soul, constitutes its activity on earth, and, consequently, beyond the grave. Fulfillment of the moral law is good for a person, his soul, since the purpose of a person is to be blessed. Consequently, the lawful action of all feelings, both internal and external, if they are in harmony, leads the soul to a state of bliss. So, this state is achieved only through the fulfillment of the moral law, through the fulfillment of one’s moral duties. Whatever state you want for your soul beyond the grave, bring it to that state on earth, albeit forcibly, and accustom it to all the powers of your soul.
The only natural purpose of the activity of the senses is the desire for truth - the good, the beautiful. Our senses must find and see only the glory of God in every creation of God. However, everything that leads to the illegal and sinful must be rejected, since it is unnatural, contrary to the nature of the soul. The desire to hear and feel God as the Creator of everything visible and invisible, the habit of finding pleasure in everything lawful and turning away from everything sinful will continue beyond the grave, in the Kingdom of God’s glory. This is where the joyful action of feelings will be revealed, and therefore the infinity of desires. After all, according to the apostle, The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and it has not entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.(1 Cor. 2:9).
The only natural purpose of the activity of the senses is the desire for truth - the good, the beautiful.
So, for the afterlife state of the soul (blessed or painful), its activity is necessary, without which the life of the soul is unthinkable, manifested in action (feelings, desires, thinking and self-knowledge). The first of the external senses is vision. The Lord Jesus Christ taught about his legal or illegal action, causing either good or evil to the whole soul, when he said: Anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it away from you, for it is better for you that one of your members perish rather than your whole body being cast into hell.(Matt. 5:28–29). The named action of vision is illegal; it separates a person from God and deprives him of a blessed life in eternity.
Bishop Non, looking at the beautiful Pelageya, began to cry because he did not care about his soul as much as she did about her appearance. This is the legitimate moral activity of vision, completely opposite to the action of vision of Pentephry’s wife, who admired the beauty of Joseph.
The desire for truth dispels the darkness of impurity. This desire is the main law for mental activity, and spiritual, unearthly joy is inseparable from it, as the fruit of a legitimate moral life. This same law of activity, in particular, belongs to every mental force, every feeling. Consequently, it serves as the basis for the work of vision, which should have as its goal on earth everything in which the name of God would be sanctified. And such objects will last beyond the grave for an eternity - for the work of both external and internal vision. In a blissful life (in paradise), it will be possible to forever see God in the company of holy Angels, to see the participants in bliss - all the saints, as well as our neighbors who were still dear to our hearts on earth and with whom we were united by God Himself in an inextricable eternal union of love. And finally, you will be able to see all the beauties of paradise. What an inexhaustible source of bliss!
But since from the time of the first sin of our ancestors evil has been mixed with good, we must protect our feelings from all evil and temptations, which contain poison that can kill our soul (Matthew 5:29). Whatever the sense of sight finds pleasure in on earth, it will seek beyond the grave. The activity of vision on earth, developing in a true, beautiful and good direction, will find further development beyond the grave, in eternity, in the Kingdom of the true, beautiful and good, in the Kingdom of the One Who said about Himself: I am the way and the truth and the life(John 14:6).
But the one who on earth accustomed his vision to an unnatural state, to action contrary to nature and purpose, who on earth found joy in violating the truth, cannot have further development of this feeling beyond the grave. Everything unnatural, contrary to nature, is evil. Consequently, an illegal action will not find beyond the grave what it is accustomed to on earth. If on earth the deprivation of the sense of sight is a considerable loss for a person, then the afterlife for sinners will be one of the first deprivations that will lead to a lack of vision. According to the teachings of the Church, in hell, in the dark fire, sufferers do not see each other. Consequently, the bliss of the righteous requires the presence of a sense of sight, for without it bliss is impossible. So, only with the presence of feelings is bliss possible.
The Old and New Testaments, testifying to the afterlife, show souls capable of seeing. The rich man and Lazarus are represented by the Lord as seeing each other. In heaven, all saved people also see each other. In hell, in an unresolved state, souls do not see each other, because they are deprived of this joy, but, to increase their sorrow, they see those saved in paradise. This happens in the first period while the unresolved state lasts. The vision of the soul, according to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, is its highest sense; it penetrates into everything that concerns the perception and assimilation of external impressions.
Our ears should also be turned to the good and the beautiful. Then, even beyond the grave, the soul will find in it an inexhaustible source of joy. Nothing can disturb the bliss of hearing in paradise. Where there is eternal joyful rejoicing, the soul will hear what it has never heard on earth. If Eve’s ear had been open to God’s Commandment and closed to the seductive words of the devil, this would have been his lawful natural action, and the bliss of the soul would not have ceased.
The mind must strive for truth, that is, for the knowledge of its Creator - God, the Beginning of all beginnings, the Organizer of visible and invisible existence. The search for truth is a universal human aspiration of the mind. With our minds we understand ourselves, our spirit, the world around us. So, the work of the mind is the totality of the activities of individual spiritual forces - thinking, cognition, feelings and desires. The activity of the mind on earth is limited. According to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, the knowledge of good and evil on earth is “partial knowledge.” That is, with all the efforts of the human mind, its development on earth does not end, and according to the law of eternal life, mental activity will continue beyond the grave. Then, according to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, knowledge will be much more perfect: now we see as if through something dim glass, fortune-telling, then face to face; Now I know in part, but then I will know, even as I am known (1 Cor. 13:12).
The will must organize all the work of the soul so that it expresses the fulfillment of its natural, natural purpose - the will of God.
The activity of consciousness, if it is darkened by passions, bad habits, inclinations, is unnatural, and then consciousness acts falsely. Just as poison, taken by a person even in a small dose, has a more or less destructive effect on the entire body, so a moral lie, no matter how small, if accepted by the mind, will infect the entire soul and strike it with a moral illness. Beyond the grave, the self-knowledge of each person with the help of individual mental powers (for example, memory) will present to the soul in all its completeness and clarity a detailed picture of its life on earth - both good and evil. All deeds, words, thoughts, desires, feelings of souls will appear at the Last Judgment before the eyes of the entire moral world.
Self-knowledge is the main action of the mind, vigilantly and strictly observing the state of the soul, the activity of individual forces of the human spirit. It gives true conviction of one's weakness and infirmity. Only such humble activity of the mind in the pursuit of truth gives a foretaste of bliss beyond the grave. It is based on the eternal law for man: you can't do anything without Me(John 15:5), on his desire for eternal blissful life in God, with God. Because Jesus Christ Himself taught that The Kingdom of God is within you(Luke 17:21).
The life of the soul constitutes its self-consciousness, therefore, it belongs to it beyond the grave, for the soul continues its personal existence even after death. The rich man in hell realizes the reason for his sorrowful situation and therefore strives to free his brothers who are still on earth from death. He asks righteous Abraham to send Lazarus to earth: I ask you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers; let him bear witness to them, so that they too do not come to this place of torment(Luke 16:27–28). Here is proof of the presence of consciousness in the unfortunate rich man in hell, consciousness of the afterlife, which contains the work of individual mental forces: memory, will and feelings. The way of thinking of a person on earth already indicates the state in which everyone will remain beyond the grave, because after death the soul will not deviate from the desire for good or evil that it acquired on earth.
Everything that is true, beautiful and good is the natural purpose of the activity of knowledge, and therefore the soul must strive for the knowledge of good. The volume of knowledge is so infinite that on earth, with all the desire of mankind for knowledge, they all constitute only the smallest share of it. And the power of knowledge, belonging to the immortal soul, will continue its activity beyond the grave, in eternity. Wherever the afterlife is described, both in the Old and New Testaments, everywhere the soul is represented as retaining full memory of its earthly path, of its life, as well as the memory of all those with whom it communicated on earth. This is what our Holy Church teaches.
The evangelical rich man remembers his brothers remaining on earth and cares about their afterlife. Since the activity of the soul is composed of the activity of all its individual forces, complete self-awareness and perfect self-condemnation cannot be achieved without the action of memory, reproducing in consciousness everything that has passed. In the first period of the afterlife, those in paradise are in unity, union and communication with those still living on earth. They vividly remember and love everyone who is dear to their hearts. Souls who hated their neighbors during their earthly life, if they were not healed of this illness, continue to hate them beyond the grave. Of course, they are in Gehenna, where there is no love.
The will must organize all the work of the soul so that it expresses the fulfillment of its natural, natural purpose - the will of God. Agreement or disagreement with the Law of God and conscience, which began on earth, after the grave turns either into perfect fusion with the will of God, or into union with the enemy of truth, into bitterness against God.
The activity of feelings and desires is the basis for the work of thinking and cognition. And since self-knowledge is integral to the soul even beyond the grave, the activity of its feelings and desires will continue there. Where there are no feelings, there is no desire, no knowledge, there is no life. It turns out that the immortal soul has feelings even beyond the grave, because otherwise reward is impossible. This is confirmed by both the Word of God and common sense. Since the purpose of creation is not the burden of existence, but bliss, in which only glorification of one’s Creator is possible, therefore, the Law of God in this case is not burden. The holy Apostle John speaks about this: His commandments are not difficult(1. John 5:3).
The law of God is not a compulsion, but a natural requirement that makes its fulfillment necessary and easy. And since this requirement is natural, its fulfillment should be a benefit for those who act according to the law. For example, love is a property innate to the human spirit and belongs to it alone to the highest degree. Without love, man cannot achieve the goal of his creation; without it, he perverts his nature. Love is a law, the fulfillment of which brings goodness and joy to a person: let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God, because God is love(1 John 4:7–8). By fulfilling the law of his nature, a person fulfills the requirement of conscience, which is the internal law, the voice of God Himself, gladdening the heart of His servant with unearthly joy while still on earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself testified to this truth: Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls(Matt. 11:29).
The action of conscience in a person is either peace in the heart, or, conversely, moral anxiety when deviating from natural purpose, from the requirements of spiritual and moral nature. On earth we can bring our conscience to a peaceful state, but what can calm it beyond the grave? Simplicity of soul and purity of heart - this is the state of the soul corresponding to the heavenly blissful life in the future. So, the activity of the mind, will and conscience consists in fulfilling their legal, natural purpose.
Self-knowledge (the action of the mind) and self-condemnation (the action of conscience) constitute the inner spiritual life of the soul beyond the grave. There is no person who would not experience the influence of conscience while still on earth! After performing a good deed, the heart is filled with special unearthly joy. And vice versa, after committing evil, breaking the law, the heart begins to worry and is filled with fear, which is sometimes followed by bitterness and evil despair, unless the soul is healed of the evil it has done through repentance. Here are two completely opposite states of the soul caused by the action of conscience. These states beyond the grave will continue to develop, and at the same time, conscience will either condemn or reward for the previous earthly moral state.
Self-knowledge (the action of the mind) and self-condemnation (the action of conscience) constitute the inner spiritual life of the soul beyond the grave.
Conscience is the voice of the law, the voice of God in man, created in the image and likeness of God. As a natural innate power of the soul, conscience will never leave a person, no matter where the soul is! The action of conscience will never cease. The judgment of conscience, the judgment of God, is unbearable. That is why, even on earth, souls, persecuted by their conscience and unable to pacify it with repentance, attempt suicide, thinking in this to find an end to their torment. But the immortal soul only passes into the immortal afterlife, corresponding to its state before death. The soul, persecuted by conscience on earth, passes beyond the grave into the same state of self-condemnation and eternal reproach.
Freed from the body, the soul enters into natural eternal life. Full consciousness of one’s earthly life, a living picture of past earthly activity as the basis of an afterlife state (blessed or rejected) will constitute the life of the soul. And the action of conscience - peace or self-condemnation - will fill this life with either eternal bliss or eternal reproach, in which there can no longer be even a shadow of peace, for peace exists where there is no reproach or persecution from the law.
Chapter 4 Unity of the afterlife with the present. Communication of souls in the afterlife
The fullness of the inner life of the soul beyond the grave, corresponding to its purpose, requires existence in a community of beings similar to itself, therefore, such social life requires mutual relationships between spiritual and moral beings - spirits and souls. Consequently, in the first period of the afterlife, the activity of souls will consist of unity and communication with souls still on earth and with each other, and in the second period - only with each other in the Kingdom of Heaven.
After the Last Judgment, when the final separation of saved souls from the lost takes place, all communication between them will cease. Interaction in heaven will continue into eternity, for without it it is impossible to imagine bliss, but in hell it has ceased since the Resurrection of Christ and the removal of the righteous from there. There is no communication in hell, its inhabitants are deprived of this bliss, they do not see each other, but see only evil spirits.
Spiritual and moral beings, spirits (good and evil) and souls, both still on earth, in the body, and in the afterlife, mutually influence each other, wherever they are. Consequently, the souls in the afterlife mutually influence each other.
Holy Scripture has revealed to us that the Angels of God do not live in solitude, but communicate with each other. Lord Jesus Christ said: those who are deemed worthy to reach that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage... they are equal to the Angels(Luke 20:35–36). Consequently, the nature of the soul is similar to the nature of Angels, and therefore souls will be in spiritual communication with each other.
Sociability is a natural, natural property of the soul, without which its existence does not achieve its goal - bliss. Only through communication can the soul emerge from that unnatural state about which its Creator said: It is not good for a person to be alone; Let us make him a helper suitable for him(Genesis 2:18). These words refer to the time when man was in paradise, where there is nothing but heavenly bliss. This means that for perfect bliss, only one thing was missing - a being similar to him, with whom he would communicate. This truth was witnessed by the Lord in Paradise, and then the Holy Spirit repeated it through the mouth of the holy King David: how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together!(Ps. 132:1.) Bliss requires precisely interaction, communication based on unity. This means that for complete bliss, communication with pious souls is necessary, according to the testimony of the same King David, who commands not to neglect friendship with people, but to avoid communication with the ungodly: blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, and does not stand in the way of sinners, and does not sit in the seat of the wicked(Ps. 1, 1).
Sociability is a natural, natural property of the soul, without which its existence does not achieve its goal - bliss.
The soul, having renounced its body, continues its activity as a living and immortal being. If communication is a natural need of the soul, without which, therefore, its bliss is impossible, then this need will be fully satisfied beyond the grave in the society of God’s chosen saints - in the Kingdom of Heaven. After all the evidence of the Holy Scriptures about the communion of the righteous in paradise, our minds come to the same conclusion about the life of God’s chosen ones in the afterlife. The Lord Jesus Christ himself showed this interaction of souls in the first period of the afterlife in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
Chapter 5 Eternal love is the law of immortality. The influence of the living on the afterlife of the deceased
This chapter will show what the unity, union and communication of the afterlife with those living on earth consists of. Let us consider here the relationship of souls in an unresolved state with the living. In this chapter, for the internal connection of the parts and the completeness of the subject, it will be necessary to repeat what has already been said before in different places.
In the previous chapter the inner afterlife of the soul and the activity of all its powers were shown. And since, according to the testimony of the Lord, it's not good for a person to be alone(Genesis 2:18), this means that for the fullness of being, the soul needs union and communication with spiritual and moral beings similar to it. This means that souls of an unresolved state are in interaction both with souls still on earth and with souls in the afterlife, but in a state that has already been saved. The state of the lost has no union and communion with either the state of the saved or the state of the unresolved, because the souls of the lost state, even while on earth, had nothing in common - neither union nor communion - with the good souls belonging to the states of the saved and unresolved.
The life of souls in saved and unresolved states is based and governed by one general law, connecting all spiritual and moral beings with their Creator - God and among themselves, the law of immortality, which is eternal love. The souls of both states of the afterlife, saved and unresolved, if they were united on earth by friendship, kinship, cordial relationships, and beyond the grave continue to sincerely, sincerely love, even more than they loved during earthly life. If they love, then it means they remember those who remained on earth. Knowing the life of the living, the deceased take part in it, grieving and rejoicing along with the living. Having one common God, those who have passed into the afterlife rely on the prayers and intercession of the living for them and wish salvation both for themselves and for those still living on earth, expecting them every hour to return to their rest in the afterlife Fatherland. Hourly, because they know the duty of everyone living on earth to be ready to move to the afterlife at any hour.
The life of souls in saved and unresolved states is based and governed by one general law, connecting all spiritual and moral beings with their Creator - God and among themselves, the law of immortality, which is eternal love.
He who does not love has not known God, because God is love(1 John 4:8), teaches the apostle. And the Savior said about Himself that He exists the way and the truth and the life(John 14:6). Therefore, life is love, and vice versa, love is life. Just as life is eternal because God is eternal, so, therefore, love is eternal. Therefore, the Apostle Paul teaches that love never fails, although prophecy will cease, and tongues will be silent, and knowledge will be abolished(1 Cor. 13:8), but passes into another world along with the soul, for which love, like life, is a necessity, because the soul is immortal. Consequently, love is natural for a living soul; without it it is dead, as the Word of God itself testifies: he who does not love his brother remains in death(1 John 3:14). So, love, together with the soul, passes beyond the grave into the Kingdom of Heaven, where no one can exist without love.
Love is a Divine property, natural, given to the soul from birth. According to the teachings of the apostle, it remains an accessory of the soul even beyond the grave. Love, born in the heart, sanctified and strengthened by faith, burns beyond the grave towards the Source of love - God and towards the neighbors remaining on earth, with whom it was united by the Lord in a strong union of love. If we, Christians, are all bound by sacred bonds of undying love, then hearts filled with this love, of course, even beyond the grave burn with the same love for God and for neighbors, and especially for those with whom they were united, with the blessing of God, with special kinship union of love.
Love is a Divine property, natural, given to the soul from birth. According to the teachings of the apostle, it remains an accessory of the soul even beyond the grave.
Here, in addition to the general Commandment of Christ the Savior : love one another as I have loved you(John 15:12), The commandment given not to the body, but to the immortal soul, is joined by other types of holy kindred love. He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him(1 John 4:16), teaches the Apostle of Love John. This means that the dead who are in God love us, the living. Not only those who are in God - perfect, but also those who are not yet completely removed from Him, imperfect, retain love for those who remain on earth.
Only lost souls, as completely alien to love, since it was a burden to them even on earth, whose hearts were constantly full of malice, hatred, and beyond the grave, alien to love for their neighbors. Whatever the soul learns on earth—love or hatred—with that it passes into eternity. If the dead had true love on earth, then after the transition to the afterlife they continue to love us, the living. The Gospel rich man and Lazarus testify to this. The Lord showed that the rich man, being in hell, despite all his sorrows, remembers his brothers remaining on earth and cares about their fate after the grave. Therefore he loves them. If a sinner is capable of loving so much, then with what tender parental love the hearts of the parents who moved to the Kingdom of Heaven burn for their orphaned children left on earth! And what fiery love do deceased spouses feel for their widowed spouses living on earth; with what angelic love the hearts of departed children burn for their parents who remain in this world! What sincere love do brothers, sisters, friends, acquaintances and all true Christians who have left this life feel for their brothers, sisters, friends, acquaintances and everyone with whom they were united by the Christian faith who remained on earth!
The Holy Apostle Peter, departing from this earthly life, promised his contemporaries to remember them even after death: I will try to ensure that even after my departure you always bring this to mind(2 Peter 1:15). So, those in hell love and care for us, and those in heaven pray for us. If love is life, then is it possible to admit that our dead do not love us? It often happens that we judge others by attributing to them what is in ourselves. Not loving our neighbor ourselves, we think that all people do not love each other. But a loving heart loves everyone, not suspecting enmity, hatred, malice in anyone, and sees and finds friends in ill-wishers. Consequently, the one who does not admit the idea that the dead can love the living, himself has a cold heart, alien to the Divine fire of love, spiritual life, far from the Lord Jesus Christ, who united all members of His Church, wherever they were, on earth or beyond the grave, undying love.
I don’t love everything that I remember, but everything that I love, I remember and cannot forget as long as I love. And love is immortal. Memory is a power, an ability of the soul. If the soul needed memory to function on earth, then it cannot lose it beyond the grave. The memory of earthly life will either calm the soul or bring it to the court of conscience. If we admit the idea that the soul has no memory beyond the grave, then how can there be both self-knowledge and self-condemnation, without which an afterlife with reward or punishment for earthly deeds is unthinkable? Therefore, everything that and with whom the soul encountered while living on earth will never be erased from its memory. Consequently, the departed, dear to our hearts, remember us, who remained on earth for some time.
Everything that and with whom the soul encountered while living on earth will never be erased from its memory.
A person’s state of mind consists of: thinking, desires and feelings. This is the activity of the soul. The immortality of the soul makes its activity endless. The life of a good or evil soul relative to loved ones continues beyond the grave. A kind soul thinks about how to save his loved ones and everyone in general. And the evil one is how to destroy. A good soul thinks: “What a pity that those who remain on earth believe, but little or not at all; they think, but little or not at all, about what God will prepare for man beyond the grave!” The evangelical rich man, loving and remembering his brothers even in hell, thinks about them and takes part in their lives. Souls filled with true love for their neighbor, no matter where they are, on earth or beyond the grave, cannot help but take a living part in the state of their neighbor, cannot help but sympathize with sorrow or joy. With those who weep, they cry, and with those who rejoice, they rejoice, according to the property of commanded love. If our departed ones love, remember, and think about us, then it is natural that their love takes a living part in our fate.
Can the dead know the life of those left on earth? Why does the gospel rich man ask Abraham to send someone from paradise to his brothers in order to protect them from a bitter fate after death? From his petition it is revealed that he truly knows that the brothers live, as he himself lived, in carelessness. How does he know? Or maybe the brothers live virtuously? The Savior Himself taught in this parable that our earthly life has an impact on the afterlife state of the dead. What state of mind did the life of his brothers bring the deceased rich man into? He lamented their unrighteous life. How much she disturbed the unfortunate rich man in hell! The Savior said nothing about whether the living brothers cared for the deceased. And their care for him would be so necessary for him! Two reasons prompted the unfortunate rich man to ask Abraham to guide his brothers to a moral, godly life. Firstly, he never thought on earth about the salvation of himself and his brothers. Loving himself, he lived for himself. Here, seeing the beggar Lazarus in glory, and himself in humiliation and sorrow, experiencing pangs of pride and a feeling of envy, he asks Abraham for help. Secondly, by saving his brothers, he also hoped for his own salvation - through them. Of course, if they changed their way of life, they would remember him, and having remembered, they would take part in his afterlife with prayers to God.
Our earthly life has an impact on the afterlife state of the dead.
The piety of the living brings joy to the dead, but an unholy life brings sorrow. Repentance, and with it the correction of the sinner’s life on earth, brings joy to the Angels. Therefore, the entire Angelic army, and with it the entire community of the righteous, rejoices and rejoices in Heaven. Holy Scripture testifies that the cause of joy in Heaven is the correction of a sinner on earth. The inhabitants of heaven are already blissful, but a new joy is added to their bliss when we, while still on earth, begin to renounce the vain, temporary, carnal and enter into the consciousness of how far we have moved away from our purpose, away from God.
By setting a limit to lawlessness and untruth, we enter into a new life based on the teachings of Christ. So, our earthly life in Christ and for Christ, a life pleasing to God, moral, will bring joy to the inhabitants of heaven. Not only righteous souls and Angels will rejoice. And the dead who have not yet reached perfection, and even the already condemned souls, will rejoice in the life of the living, those who fear God, whose prayers the Lord accepts.
Our earthly life in Christ and for Christ, a life pleasing to God, moral, will bring joy to the inhabitants of heaven.
The dead will find in us, the living, their benefactors, who constantly improve their afterlife state. Now it is clear that there was no joy in Heaven for the unfortunate rich man from the earthly life of his brothers. And his fate in hell was bleak, according to the Gospel, precisely because there was no reason that would produce joy in the afterlife, because the brothers did not repent and did not correct themselves. But they could improve the afterlife state of their unfortunate brother!
The fact that souls in hell know how their loved ones live on earth can be confirmed by the conversation of Saint Macarius of Egypt with the priest’s skull. One day the Monk Macarius was walking through the desert and, seeing a skull lying on the ground, asked him: “Who are you?” The skull replied: “I was the main pagan priest. When you, Father, pray for those in hell, we receive some relief.” Consequently, the evangelical rich man could know about the state of life of the brothers on earth from his own afterlife state. Seeing no consolation for himself, as the Gospel narrates, he made a conclusion about their sinful life. If they had led a more or less righteous life, they would not have forgotten their dead brother and would have helped him in some way. Then he too could say, like the skull of the priest, that he receives some comfort from their prayers for him. Not receiving any relief beyond the grave, the rich man concluded about their carefree life. The dead know what kind of life we lead - good or evil, because of its influence on their afterlife.
The activity of the soul on earth is largely limited to the gross and material body. The activity of the soul, due to its close connection with the body, subject to the laws of space and time, is dependent on these laws. Therefore, the activity of the soul is limited by the capabilities of our flesh. Having renounced the body, becoming free and no longer subject to the laws of space and time, the soul, as a subtle being, enters a region that goes beyond the boundaries of the material world. She sees and learns what was previously hidden from her. The soul, having entered its natural state, acts naturally, and its feelings are freed. Whereas the lifetime state of feelings was unnatural, painful - a consequence of sin.
Consequently, after separation from the body, the soul enters the natural limits of its activity, when space and time no longer exist. If the righteous know (see, feel) the afterlife state of sinners, despite the immeasurable space between them, and enter into communication with each other, then they also know our earthly state, despite the even more insurmountable space between heaven and earth. If sinners also know (see and feel) the state of the righteous, then why cannot the former, who are in hell, know the state of the living on earth in exactly the same way, as the unfortunate rich man in hell knew the state of his brothers on earth? And if the deceased are with us, the living, in their spirit, then can they not know our earthly life?
The activity of the soul, due to its close connection with the body, subject to the laws of space and time, is dependent on these laws.
So, the imperfect dead know the life of the living because of their own afterlife state, because of the perfection of spiritual feelings beyond the grave and because of sympathy for the living.
We recognize what is called truly beautiful in God's creation. The Lord Himself says about His creation that everything that He created... is very good(Genesis 1:31). The spiritual world and the physical world form one harmonious unity. Something ugly could not come out of the hands of the Creator. In God’s creation, everything happened and is happening not by chance (as materialists teach, who do not recognize anything other than matter), but it happened and is happening according to a known plan, in an orderly system, for a known purpose, according to unchangeable laws. Everything participates in the whole, everything serves each other, everything depends on one another. Consequently, everything influences each other, and the state of one thing is in union with the state of another and with the state of the whole. The development of the spiritual and physical worlds proceeds in parallel, hand in hand, according to the law of life, once given and unchangeable. The state of the whole, the general, is reflected in the state of its parts. And the state of the parts of the whole, interacting with each other, leads them to agreement and harmony. This harmony of spiritual and moral beings is called compassion. That is, feeling the state of another, you yourself unwittingly come to the same state.
In the Kingdom of God, in the Kingdom of spiritual and moral beings, such as spirits and human souls, one nature reigns, one purpose of existence and one law of unanimity, arising from the law of love, connecting all spiritual and moral beings and souls. Being is the life of the soul not only for itself, but also for its Creator - God, and for its neighbors. Eve was created for Adam, and the existence of her soul was intended not only for her alone, but also for the fullness of Adam's existence.
Being is the life of the soul not only for itself, but also for its Creator - God, and for its neighbors.
So, the state of the soul is determined by the state of the souls around it, with which it has various relationships. How quickly Eve’s fallen condition responded to Adam! Self-love is unnatural to the soul; the fullness of the life of the soul is determined by its relationship to God and to creatures similar to it. The life of the soul is closely connected with the life of beings similar to it and standing with it in different relationships, and therefore it is impossible that the same spirit that gives them life should not be a guide leading souls to agreement, like-mindedness in different states.
Joy, sadness and in general states of mind that are taken to heart are feelings. The heart also has premonitions and sympathy. And therefore joy and sadness also inherently belong to the heart. There is a popular saying, not without truth, that “the heart gives the heart the message.” Doesn't this mean showing sympathy? After all, sympathy is a natural property of the soul, since it is natural for it to both cry and rejoice with its neighbors. The moral fall of man distorted the natural properties of the soul, and they began to act perversely. The decrease in faith and love, carnal passions, and depravity of the heart turned sympathy into indifference. A person knows so little in comparison with what he is able to know (as far as God allows him to do so) that the knowledge he has is practically equivalent to ignorance. This truth was also expressed by the holy Apostle Paul, the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit.
There is so much mystery in human nature, which is made up of flesh, soul and spirit! The soul and body sympathize with each other, and the state of mind is always reflected in the body, and the state of the body is reflected in the state of the soul. So, sympathy is a natural property of spiritual and moral beings.
Sympathy is a natural property of spiritual and moral beings.
Death initially produces great sorrow due to the visible separation from family and friends. The strength and degree of grief depend on the strength of love connecting two persons and on their mutual relationships. They say that a grieving soul feels much better after shedding tears. Grief without crying greatly depresses the soul. The soul is in a close, mysterious union with the body, through which it manifests various mental states. So, nature requires sobs, bitter tears. But by faith we are prescribed only abstinent, moderate crying. Faith consoles us that the spiritual union with the deceased is not dissolved by death, that the deceased in his spirit remains with us, the living, that he is alive.
The law of sympathy is that the crying and tears of one produce a sorrowful state in the soul of another, and we often hear: “Your tears, crying, your sorrow and despondency bring melancholy to my soul!” If someone goes on a long journey, he asks the person with whom he is separated not to cry, but to pray to God for him. The deceased in this case looks like someone who has left. Therefore, excessive crying is useless and even harmful; it interferes with prayer, through which everything is possible for a believer.
Prayer and lamentation about sins are useful for both separated people. Souls are cleansed of sins through prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ testified to this truth: blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted(Matt. 5:4). Since love for the dead cannot fade, it is necessary to show sympathy for them - to bear each other’s burdens, to intercede for the sins of the dead, as if for one’s own. And from here comes crying about the sins of the deceased, through this the Lord shows mercy to the deceased, according to the immutable promise to hear the one asking with faith. At the same time, the Savior sends His help and grace to those who ask for the deceased.
Dying, the deceased asked not to cry for them as non-existent, but to pray to God for them, not to forget and love them. And therefore, excessive crying for the deceased is harmful to both the living and the deceased. We need to cry not about the fact that our loved ones moved to another world (after all, that world is better than ours), but about our sins. Such crying is pleasing to God, and brings benefit to the dead, and prepares for those who cry a sure reward beyond the grave.
Excessive crying for the deceased is harmful to the living and deceased.
But how will God have mercy on the deceased if the living does not pray for him, but indulges in excessive crying, despondency, and perhaps murmur? Then, not feeling God’s mercy, the deceased mourn our carelessness. They learned from their own experience about the eternal life of man. And we, who still remain here, can only strive to improve their condition, as God commanded us: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you(Matt. 6:33); bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ(Gal. 6:2). We can greatly help the deceased if we try to do so.
Even in the Old Testament, the word of God prescribed to keep a person from evil to constantly remember death and the inevitability of the transition to the afterlife. Having eternal life before our inner gaze, we thereby no longer seem to be separated from the dead, but, evading everything earthly and sinful, we cleave to the afterlife. And since everyone is a sinner before God, both the dead and the living, then, of necessity, we must share the fate of the deceased, which awaits us after death. The state of the dead is our future state, and therefore it should be close to our hearts. Everything that can improve this mournful afterlife state is pleasant to the dead and useful to us.
Jesus Christ commanded to be prepared for death every hour. This means that we must be in constant union and communication with those ahead of us on the path to the afterlife. You cannot fulfill this commandment (remember death, imagine and anticipate judgment, heaven, hell, eternity) if you do not imagine those who have gone to the afterlife. Consequently, the memory of the dead is in close connection with this commandment. It is impossible to imagine court, heaven and hell without people, including our relatives, acquaintances and everyone dear to our hearts. What kind of heart is this that would remain indifferent to the state of sinners in the afterlife? Seeing a drowning person, you inevitably rush to give him a helping hand in order to save him. Vividly imagining the afterlife state of sinners, you will involuntarily begin to look for means of saving them. So, if we are given the memory of death, then this means the memory of the dead.
If, seeing a dying person, I only began to cry, without using any means to save him, how would I improve his condition? And the Savior said about such useless tears of the Nain widow, who was burying her only son, the support of old age, the consolation of widowhood: do not Cry(Luke 7:13).
This truth was confirmed by the holy Apostle Paul to Christians crying for their dead. "Don't mourn!" - he taught. It is clear that only harmful things are forbidden to us, and useful things are commanded. Crying is prohibited, but generosity is permitted. Jesus Christ himself explained why crying is useless by telling Martha, Lazarus' sister, that her brother would rise again. And he told Jairus that his daughter was not dead, but asleep. The Lord taught that He did not God of the dead, but God of the living; (Mark 12:27). Consequently, everyone who has passed into the afterlife is alive. Why cry for the living, to whom we will come in our own time? Saint John Chrysostom teaches that prayers for the dead are not in vain, and alms are not in vain. The Spirit has ordained all this, desiring that we should benefit each other mutually.
Do you want to honor the deceased? Do alms, good deeds and prayers. What is the use of crying a lot? The Lord forbade such crying, saying that we should not weep, but pray for the sins of the deceased, which will bring him eternal joy. The Lord blesses such crying as a prayer for sins: blessed are those who mourn(Luke 6:21). Inconsolable, hopeless crying, not imbued with faith in the afterlife, the Lord forbade it. But tears expressing grief at separation from a loved one on earth are not prohibited. At the grave of Lazarus Jesus... Himself was grieved in spirit and indignant(John 11:33).
The Lord forbade crying, saying that we should not weep, but pray for the sins of the deceased, which will bring him eternal joy.
Saint John Chrysostom begs us, the faithful, not to imitate the infidels, who, like Christians, do not know the promised resurrection and future life. So that they do not tear our clothes, do not beat themselves in the chest, do not tear out the hair on the head and do similar atrocities and thereby do not harm both themselves and the deceased (“Word on the Meatless Saturday”). From these words of the saint it is clear how useless and even harmful and painful the unreasonable crying of the living for the dead is. The appearance in a dream of a widower priest, who began to indulge in the sin of drunkenness out of despair, of his dead wife revealed how painful it is for those who have died from our bad life and how heartily they wish that we, the living, would spend it in a Christian way, having the promise of resurrection and eternal life for coffin
So, if souls in hell, whose fate has not yet been decided, with all their sorrowful state, remember those close to their hearts who remained on earth, and care about their afterlife, then what can we say about those who are on the eve of bliss, about their care and concern? about those living on earth? Their love, now no longer diminished by anything earthly, by any sorrows or passions, burns even stronger, their peace is disturbed only by loving care for those on earth. They, as Saint Cyprian says, having become confident in their salvation, are worried about the salvation of those remaining on earth.
The human spirit, which has divine origin, assures him of the undoubted receipt from God of what he asks and desires, leaving for the heart a saving hope in the Lord. So, hope is the reassurance of the human heart in God, in receiving from Him what is asked or desired. Hope is a universal concept, as a state of the soul based on faith, which is a natural property of the soul and, therefore, of all humanity.
There is not a single people that does not have any beliefs, with the only difference being that among wild, uneducated tribes, religion does not constitute a consistent teaching, like ours. If faith is natural for humans, then, therefore, hope is a universal concept. Calmness of the heart in achieving something constitutes hope in general. People on earth are in such a relationship with each other that in various circumstances they rely on each other, for example, having a need for protection, help, consolation, intercession. So, for example, children rely on their parents, wives on their husbands and husbands on their wives, relatives on relatives, acquaintances, friends, subordinates on their superiors, subjects on the sovereign, and the sovereign on his subjects. And such hope agrees with the will of God, unless the hope for a person or the state exceeds the hope for God. Love is the basis of hope, and bound by love we have hope in each other. Thoughts, desires and feelings constitute the content of the invisible activity of the soul, which bears the imprint of the immaterial.
The soul has inherent hope in God and in itself, similar beings with whom it is in various relationships. Having been separated from the body and entered the afterlife, the soul retains with itself everything that belongs to it, including hope in God and in the people close and dear to it remaining on earth. St. Augustine writes: “The deceased hope to receive help through us, for the time of doing has flown away for them.” The same truth is confirmed by Saint Ephraim the Syrian: “If on earth, moving from one country to another, we need guides, then how necessary will this become when we move into eternal life!”
Hope is the property of the immortal soul. We hope through the intercession of the saints to enjoy the blessings of God and receive salvation, and, therefore, we need them. In the same way, the dead, who have not yet achieved bliss, have need of us, the living, and rely on us.
Hope is the property of the immortal soul.
As has already been said, the soul, passing beyond the grave with all its powers, abilities, habits, inclinations, being alive and immortal, continues its spiritual life there. Consequently, desire, as an ability of the soul, continues its activity beyond the grave. The subject of desire is truth, the desire for the high, the beautiful and the good, the search for truth, peace and joy, the thirst for life, the desire for further development and improvement of life. Thirst for life is a desire for the natural Source of life, for God, this is the original attribute of the human spirit.
The desires that the soul had on earth will not leave it beyond the grave. Now, while we are still alive, we want God to pray for us; we also want them not to forget us after death. If we want it now, then what will prevent us from wanting this beyond the grave? Will there not be this spiritual strength? Where can she go?
The desires that the soul had on earth will not leave it beyond the grave.
Approaching death, the Apostle Paul asked believers to pray for him: pray at all times in the spirit... and for me, so that the word may be given to me to openly and boldly proclaim with my mouth the mystery of the gospel(Eph. 6, 18, 19). If even the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit, who was in paradise, desired prayers for himself, then what can be said about the imperfect departed? Of course, they also want us not to forget them, to intercede for them before God and to help them in any way we can. They want our prayers just as much as we want the saints to pray for us, and the saints want the salvation of us, the living, as well as the imperfect dead.
Desiring our prayers and, in general, intercession before God, the imperfect departed at the same time want salvation for us, the living. They want to correct our earthly life. Let us remember the care of the rich man in hell for his brothers remaining on earth. This desire for our prayers lies primarily in the attitude of the dead towards us. The Holy Church, knowing their afterlife state and realizing that we are all sinners before God, in order to more successfully influence the hearts of the living, addresses them on behalf of the deceased with the following words: “Pray for us. We have never needed your prayers as much as we do in these moments. We now go to the Judge, where there is no partiality. We ask and pray to everyone: pray to Christ God for us, that we may not, through our sins, be brought down to a place of torment, but may He give us rest, where there is living light, where there is no sorrow, no illness, no sighing, but there is endless life.” This is the common request of every soul who has departed from the earth, and the Church expresses it to us, the living, so that we sympathize with them. For our sympathy for them, for our prayers, they will send us their blessing from the other world. Loving us sincerely, they are afraid and worried about us, lest we betray faith and love. And their whole desire is that we follow the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, imitating the lives of good Christians.
We are pleased when our wishes come true. The departing person, wishing to continue carrying out his affairs on earth even after death, entrusts the implementation of his will to another who remains here. The deceased, thus, acts through the living in the same way as the elder with the help of the younger, the master through the slave, the sick through the healthy, the departing through the remaining. Two persons participate in this activity: the one who commanded and the one who fulfills. The fruits of activity belong to its inspirer, wherever he may be. The fulfillment of a Christian will gives the testator peace, since prayers are offered to God for his eternal repose. Failure to fulfill such a will deprives the testator of peace, since it turns out that he is no longer doing anything for the common good. Anyone who fails to fulfill a will is subject to God's judgment as a murderer, as someone who has taken away funds that could have saved the testator from hell and saved him from eternal death. He stole the life of the deceased, he did not use the opportunities that life could bring him, he did not distribute his property to the poor! And the word of God claims that alms delivers from death, therefore, those who remain on earth are the cause of death for those living beyond the grave, that is, a murderer. He is as guilty as a murderer. But here, however, a case is possible when the sacrifice of the deceased is not accepted. Probably not without reason, everything is God’s will.
The last wish, of course, if it is not illegal, the last will of the dying person is fulfilled sacredly - for the sake of the peace of the deceased and the conscience of the executor of the will. The Lord moves toward mercy towards the deceased by fulfilling the Christian will. He will hear the one asking with faith, and at the same time he will bring bliss to the intercessor for the deceased.
In general, our negligence regarding the dead will not remain without retribution. There is a popular proverb: “A dead man does not stand at the gate, but he will take what is his!” In all likelihood, it expresses the consequences that can occur due to the indifferent attitude of the living towards the deceased. This saying cannot be neglected, for it contains a considerable part of the truth.
Until the final decision of God's judgment, even the righteous in paradise are still not immune to the sorrow that comes from their love for sinners still on earth and for sinners in hell. And the sorrowful state of sinners in hell, whose fate is not finally decided, is increased by our sinful life. The deceased, no matter where he is, in heaven or hell, wants his will to be carried out exactly. Especially if the fulfillment of the will can improve the afterlife state of the deceased. If the dead are deprived of grace through our negligence or evil intent, then they can cry out to God for vengeance, and the true Avenger will not be late. God's punishment will soon befall such people. The stolen property of the deceased, which became the property of the thief, will not be of use to the latter. As they say: “Everything took fire, everything went to dust!” For the trampled honor and property of the deceased, many have suffered and continue to suffer. People suffer punishment and do not understand the reason, or, better said, do not want to admit their guilt to the deceased.
The last will of the dying person is fulfilled sacredly - in the name of the peace of the deceased and the conscience of the executor of the will.
Those close to us who preceded us in their transition to the afterlife, if they love and care about us, then naturally they are waiting for us to join them. Our fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, spouses, enjoying immortality, wish to see us again in the afterlife. How many souls await us there? We are wanderers... So how can we not want to reach the Fatherland, finish our journey and rest in a comfortable haven, where everyone who preceded us is waiting! And sooner or later we will unite with them and will be together forever, face to face, in the words of the Apostle Paul: we will always be with the Lord(1 Thess. 4:17). This means, together with all those who pleased God.
All infants who die after holy Baptism will undoubtedly receive salvation. For if they are clean from common sin, because they are cleansed by Divine Baptism, and from their own, since infants do not yet have their own will and therefore do not sin, then, without any doubt, they will be saved. Consequently, at the birth of children, parents are obliged to take care to introduce new members of the Church of Christ into the Orthodox faith through holy Baptism, and to make them heirs of eternal life in Christ. If salvation is impossible without faith, then it is clear that the afterlife fate of unbaptized infants is unenviable.
If the dead are deprived of grace through our negligence or evil intent, then they can cry out to God for vengeance, and the true Avenger will not be late.
The words of St. John Chrysostom, spoken by him on behalf of the children as a consolation to crying parents, testify to the afterlife state of infants: “Do not cry, our exodus and the passage of air ordeals, accompanied by Angels, were carefree. The devils did not find anything in us, and we, by the grace of our Master, God, are where the Angels and all the saints abide, and we pray to God for you” (“Word on the Meatless Saturday”). So, if children pray, it means they are aware of the existence of their parents, remember and love them. The degree of bliss of infants, according to the teaching of the Fathers of the Church, is more beautiful than that of virgins and saints. They are children of God, pets of the Holy Spirit (“Creations of the Holy Fathers” Part 5. P. 207). The voice of babies calls out to their parents living on earth through the mouth of the Church: “I died early, but at least I did not have time to denigrate myself with sins, like you, and avoided the danger of sinning. Therefore, it is better to always cry for yourself, those who sin” (“The Rite of Burial of Infants”). Parents, with Christian humility and devotion to the will of God, must endure the grief of separation from their children and should not indulge in inconsolable sadness over their death. Love for dead children should be manifested in prayer for them. A Christian mother sees in her deceased child her closest prayer book before the Throne of the Lord and, in reverent tenderness, blesses the Lord both for him and for herself. Our Lord Jesus Christ directly declared: let the children in and do not hinder them from coming to Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven(Matt. 19:14).
We find a similar belief about the bliss of dead babies among the ancient Peruvians. The death of a newborn child is even considered a joyful event among them, which is celebrated with dancing and feasting, since they are convinced that the deceased child directly turns into an Angel.
Chapter 6 The life of the soul on earth is the beginning of its afterlife. Unresolved State of Souls in Hell
The soul, while on earth, influenced other souls with all its powers. After leaving for the afterlife, she lives among the same creatures - spirits and souls. If earthly life should become a preparation for the afterlife, according to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, then afterlife activities will be a continuation of earthly life - good (righteous) or evil (sinful). It is in vain that some attribute inactivity and detachment to the soul behind the grave. This is not consistent with the teachings of the Holy Church and with the properties of the soul. To deprive the soul of its activity means to deny it the opportunity to be a soul. Should she really change her eternal, unchangeable nature?
The essential property of the soul is immortality and unceasing activity, eternal development, perfection of the constant transition from one mental state to another, more perfect one, good (in heaven) or evil (in hell). So, the afterlife state of the soul is active, that is, it continues to act as it acted before on earth.
The afterlife state of the soul is active, that is, it continues to act as it acted before on earth.
In our earthly life, there is constant interaction between souls, according to the natural purpose of their activities. The law is fulfilled, and the soul achieves its desire by influencing another soul as much as it can. After all, not only is the soul burdened with a corruptible body, but our mind is also burdened with an earthly dwelling: the corruptible body burdens the soul, and this earthly temple suppresses the over-concerned mind(Wis. 9, 15). If what has been said is true, then what can be assumed about the activity of the soul beyond the grave, when it is freed from its body, which so hinders it in its activities on earth? If here she knew and felt only partially (in the words of the Apostle - imperfectly), then beyond the grave her activity will be much more perfect, and souls, interacting, will know and feel each other fully. They will see, hear each other and talk to each other in a way that is now incomprehensible to us. However, even on earth we cannot explain to ourselves for certain all the activities of the soul. This activity - original, invisible, immaterial - consists of thoughts, desires and feelings. And yet it is visible, heard, felt by other souls, although they are in bodies, but leading a spiritual life, according to the Commandments of God.
The earthly life of all the saints proves what has been said. The secret, the innermost, the inner spiritual life and the invisible activities of others were not hidden from them. The saints responded to the thoughts, desires and feelings of some of them with words and deeds. This is the most convincing evidence that souls without bodies will interact beyond the grave, without any need for visible organs. Just as the saints of God saw, heard and felt the internal state of others without any help from external organs. The life of saints on earth and their interaction is the beginning of preparation for the afterlife. They sometimes communicate without the help of external organs. This, by the way, is the reason why they cared so little, if not at all, about the body, considering it even unnecessary for spiritual life.
If knowledge based on experience proves the truth of this or that position, then on the basis of the same experiments carried out by life itself according to the Law of the Lord, those who wish can convince themselves of the reality of Divine truths by experiencing them on themselves: subordinating the flesh to the spirit, and the mind and the heart to the obedience of faith. And you will see for certain that the real life of the soul, its activity on earth is the beginning of its afterlife and activity. Isn't this convincing evidence of the interaction of souls after death? And, for example, such well-known facts when a person, having announced in advance to his loved one about his desire to talk with him, directly appoints a time for this - sleep. And indeed, regardless of the bodies resting on their beds, souls conduct a conversation, the subject of which was known to them even before sleep.
They say that sleep is an image of death. What is sleep? A human condition in which the active activity of the body and all external senses ceases. Therefore, all communication with the visible world, with everything around us, ceases. But life, the eternal activity of the soul, does not freeze in a state of sleep. The body sleeps, but the soul works, and the scope of its activity is sometimes much more extensive than when the body is awake. Thus, the souls, conducting an agreed conversation in a dream, as mentioned above, interacted with one another. And since souls are mysteriously connected with their bodies, a certain state of souls in a dream was reflected on their bodies, although this interaction took place without any participation of their bodies in that. In the waking state, people carry out what their souls talked about during sleep. If on earth souls could influence one another without any participation of their bodies, then why is it impossible for the same souls to interact beyond the grave?
The real life of the soul, its activity on earth is the beginning of its afterlife and activity.
Here we spoke about the activity of souls taking place with perfect consciousness, and the time of sleep was appointed in advance. There are other experiences (somnambulism, clairvoyance) that confirm what we have said and prove that the activity of the soul is much more perfect when it becomes free from the body during sleep. Thus, it is known that many lofty thoughts first appeared in the souls of brilliant people during sleep, during the free activity of their souls. And the apostle teaches that the activity of the soul, that is, the activity of all its powers, reaches perfection only beyond the grave, in the absence of the body in the first period, and in the second - with the body already helping in the activity of the soul, and not hindering it. For the body and soul in the second period of the afterlife will be in perfect harmony with each other, not as it was on earth, when the spirit fought with the flesh, and the flesh rebelled against the spirit.
All conversations of the risen Lord with His disciples are direct evidence of the meeting and communication of souls in eternity, both in the first and second periods of its afterlife. What will prevent souls in the first period beyond the grave from seeing, hearing, feeling, communicating with each other in the same way as His disciples saw, heard, felt, and communicated with the risen Lord on earth? The apostles and everyone who saw the Lord ascending to heaven testify to the existence of union and communication of souls in the afterlife.
End of introductory fragment.
Probably, among the adult population of the entire planet, you cannot find even one person who has not thought about death in one way or another.
We are not now interested in the opinions of skeptics who question everything that they have not touched with their own hands and have not seen with their own eyes. We are interested in the question, what is death?
Quite often, surveys cited by sociologists show that up to 60 percent of respondents are sure that the afterlife exists.
Just over 30 percent of respondents take a neutral position regarding the Kingdom of the Dead, believing that most likely they will experience reincarnation and rebirth in a new body after death. The remaining ten do not believe in either the first or the second, believing that death is the final result of everything. If you are interested in what happens after death to those who sold their soul to the devil and gained wealth, fame and honor on earth, we recommend that you refer to the article about. Such people gain prosperity and respect not only during life, but also after death: those who sell their souls become powerful demons. Leave a request to sell your soul so that demonologists will perform a ritual for you: [email protected]
In fact, these are not absolute numbers; in some countries, people are more willing to believe in the other world, relying on the books they have read from psychiatrists who have studied issues of clinical death.
In other places, they believe that they need to live to the fullest here and now, and they are of little concern about what awaits later. Probably, the diversity of opinions lies in the field of sociology and living environment, but this is a completely different problem.
From the data obtained in the survey, the conclusion is clear that the majority of the planet’s inhabitants believe in an afterlife. This is a truly exciting question, what awaits us at the second of death - the last exhalation here, and a new breath in the Kingdom of the Dead?
It’s a pity, but no one has a complete answer to such a question, except perhaps God, but if we accept the existence of the Almighty in our equation as faithfulness, then of course there is only one answer - there is a World to Come!
Raymond Moody, there is life after death.
Many prominent scientists at different times wondered: is death a special transitional state between life here and moving to the other world? For example, such a famous scientist as the inventor even tried to establish contact with the inhabitants of the afterlife. And this is just one example of thousands of similar ones, when people sincerely believe in life after death.
But what if there is at least something that can give us confidence in life after death, at least some signs indicating the existence of an afterlife? Eat! There is such evidence, assure researchers of the issue and psychiatry specialists who have worked with people who have experienced clinical death.
As Raymond Moody, an American psychologist and doctor from Porterdale, Georgia, assures us, such a well-known expert on the issue of “life after death”, there is an afterlife beyond any doubt.Moreover, the psychologist has many adherents from the scientific community. Well, let's see what kind of facts they give us as evidence of the fantastic idea of the existence of an afterlife?
Let me make a reservation right away, we are not now touching on the issue of reincarnation, the transmigration of the soul or its rebirth in a new body, this is a completely different topic and God willing and fate allows it, we will consider this later.
I will also note, alas, despite many years of research and travel around the world, neither Raymond Moody nor his followers were able to find at least one person who lived in the afterlife and returned from there with the facts in hand - this is not a joke , but a necessary note.
All evidence about the existence of life after death is based on the stories of people who have experienced clinical death. This is what has been called “near-death experience” for the last couple of decades and has gained popularity. Although there is already an error in the definition itself - what kind of near-death experience can we talk about if death did not actually occur? But well, let it be as R. Moody says about it.
Near-death experience, journey to the afterlife.
Clinical death, according to the conclusions of many researchers in this area, appears as an exploratory path to the afterlife. What does it look like? Resuscitation doctors save a person’s life, but at some point death turns out to be stronger. A person dies - omitting the physiological details, we note that the time of clinical death ranges from 3 to 6 minutes.
The first minute of clinical death, the resuscitator carries out the necessary procedures, and meanwhile the soul of the deceased leaves the body and looks at everything that is happening from the outside. As a rule, the souls of people who have crossed the border of two worlds for some time fly to the ceiling.
Further, those who have experienced clinical death see a different picture: some are gently but surely pulled into a tunnel, often a spiral-shaped funnel, where they pick up crazy speed.At the same time, they feel wonderful and free, clearly realizing that a wonderful and wonderful life awaits them. Others, on the contrary, are frightened by the picture of what they saw, they are not drawn into the tunnel, they rush home, to their family, apparently looking there for protection and salvation from something bad.
The second minute of clinical death, the physiological processes in the human body freeze, but it is still impossible to say that this is a dead person. By the way, during a “near-death experience” or foray into the afterlife for reconnaissance, time undergoes noticeable transformations. No, there are no paradoxes, but the time that takes a few minutes here, in “there” stretches to half an hour or even more.
Here is what a young woman who had a near-death experience said: I had the feeling that my soul had left my body. I saw the doctors and myself lying on the table, but it didn’t seem scary or frightening to me. I felt a pleasant lightness, my spiritual body radiated joy and absorbed peace and tranquility.
Then, I went outside the operating room and found myself in a very dark corridor, at the end of which there was a bright white light. I don’t know how it happened, but I was flying along the corridor in the direction of the light at great speed.
It was a state of amazing lightness when I reached the end of the tunnel and fell into the arms of the world surrounding me from all sides... a woman came out into the light, and it turned out that her long-dead mother was standing next to her.
The third minute of resuscitators, the patient was snatched from death...
“Daughter, it’s too early for you to die,” my mother told me... After these words, the woman fell into the darkness and remembers nothing more. She regained consciousness on the third day and learned that she had acquired a clinical death experience.
All the stories of people who experienced the borderline state between life and death are extremely similar. On the one hand, this gives us the right to believe in an afterlife. However, the skeptic sitting inside each of us whispers: how is it that “the woman felt her soul leaving her body,” but at the same time she saw everything? It’s interesting whether she felt it or did she look, you see, these are different things.
Attitude to the issue of near-death experience.
I am never a skeptic, and I believe in the other world, but when you read the full picture of a survey of clinical death from specialists who do not deny the possibility of the existence of life after death, but look at it without liberty, then the attitude towards the issue changes somewhat.
And the first thing that amazes is the “near-death experience” itself. In most cases of such an event, not those “cut-ups” for books that we love to quote, but a full survey of people who experienced clinical death, you see the following:
It turns out that the group surveyed includes all patients. All! It doesn’t matter what the person was sick with, epilepsy, fell into a deep coma, etc... it could generally be an overdose of sleeping pills or drugs that inhibit consciousness - in the overwhelming majority, for the survey it is enough to declare that he experienced clinical death! Marvelous? And then, if doctors, when recording death, do this based on the lack of breathing, blood circulation and reflexes, then this does not seem to matter for participation in the survey.And another strange thing that little attention is paid to when psychiatrists describe the borderline states of a person close to death, although this is not hidden. For example, the same Moody admits that in the review there are many cases where a person saw/experienced a flight through a tunnel to the light and other paraphernalia of the afterlife without any physiological damage.
This really comes from the realm of the paranormal, but the psychiatrist admits that in many cases when a person “flew into the afterlife,” nothing threatened his health. That is, a person acquired visions of flying into the Kingdom of the Dead, as well as a near-death experience, without being in a near-death state. Agree, this changes the attitude towards theory.
Scientists, a few words about near-death experiences.
According to experts, the above-described pictures of “flight to the next world” are acquired by a person before the onset of clinical death, but not after it. It was mentioned above that critical damage to the body and the inability of the heart to ensure the life cycle destroys the brain after 3-6 minutes (we will not discuss the consequences of the critical time).
This convinces us that having passed the mortal second, the deceased has no opportunity or way to feel anything. A person experiences all the previously described conditions not during clinical death, but during agony, when oxygen is still carried by the blood.
Why are the pictures experienced and told by people who have looked “on the other side” of life very similar? This is fully explained by the fact that during the death throes, the same factors influence the brain function of any person experiencing this state.
At such moments, the heart works with great interruptions, the brain begins to experience starvation, the picture is complemented by surges in intracranial pressure, and so on at the level of physiology, but without an admixture of the otherworldly.
The vision of a dark tunnel and flying to the other world at great speed also find scientific justification, and undermine our faith in life after death - although it seems to me that this only breaks the picture of the “near-death experience”. Due to severe oxygen starvation, so-called tunnel vision can manifest itself, when the brain cannot correctly process signals coming from the periphery of the retina, and only receives/processes signals received from the center.The person at this moment observes the effects of “flying through the tunnel towards the light.” Hallucinations are enhanced quite well by a shadowless lamp and doctors standing on both sides of the table and in the head - those who have had similar experience know that vision begins to “float” even before anesthesia.
The feeling of the soul leaving the body, seeing doctors and oneself as if from the outside, finally getting relief from pain - in fact, this is the effect of medications and a malfunction of the vestibular apparatus. When clinical death occurs, then in these minutes a person sees and feels nothing.
So, by the way, a high percentage of people who took the same LSD admitted that at these moments they acquired “experience” and went to other worlds. But shouldn’t we consider this the opening of a portal to other worlds?
In conclusion, I would like to note that the survey figures given at the very beginning are only a reflection of our belief in life after death, and cannot serve as evidence of life in the Kingdom of the Dead. Statistics from official medical programs look completely different, and may even discourage optimists from believing in the afterlife.
In fact, we have very few cases where people who actually experienced clinical death could say anything at all about their visions and encounters. Moreover, this is not the 10-15 percent that they are talking about, it is only about 5%. Among whom are people who have suffered brain death - alas, even a psychiatrist who knows hypnosis cannot help them remember anything.The other part looks much better, although of course there is no talk of complete restoration, and it is quite difficult to understand where they have their own memories and where they arose after conversations with a psychiatrist.
But the instigators of the idea of “life after death” are right about one thing; clinical experience really does greatly change the lives of people who have experienced this event. As a rule, this is a long period of rehabilitation and restoration of health. Some stories say that people who have experienced a borderline state suddenly discover previously unseen talents. Allegedly, communication with angels who meet the dead in the next world radically changes a person’s worldview.
Others, on the contrary, indulge in such grave sins that you begin to suspect either those who wrote were distorting facts and kept silent about it, or...or some fell into the underworld and realized that nothing good awaits them in the afterlife, so that’s what we need here and now.” get high" before dying.
And yet it exists!
As the ideological inspirer of biocentrism, Professor Robert Lantz, from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said, a person believes in death because he is taught so. The basis of this teaching lies on the foundations of the philosophy of life - if we know for sure that in the World to Come life is arranged happily, without pain and suffering, then why should we value this life? But this tells us that the other world exists, death here is birth in the Other World!
Throughout the history of their existence, people have asked insoluble questions about the meaning of life and their own destiny, about what awaits everyone after death. The only exception may be the most primitive representatives of our race. But in those distant times, their way of life was qualitatively not much different from the life of animals. Our ancestors simply had no time to think about lofty things, because survival in harsh natural conditions came first.
When people became interested in the afterlife
Human psychology became more complex in the process of evolution, giving more scope for thoughts about the eternal. Primitive instincts were gradually replaced by higher experiences. At the same time, awareness of one’s own life and, which is important in this matter, increased. It is now reliably known that the fundamental principles of culture arose not so long ago, about one hundred thousand years ago. It was then that the spiritual component began to mean more to people. Along with the development of this side of existence, reflections on life and death inevitably began.
Death always followed a person, frightened him, appearing as a terrible and cruel phenomenon that was impossible to fight. At least the result was always the same. Against this background, it is not at all surprising that the very first, most important and captivating mystery was the afterlife and the very prospect of its existence. Inquiring minds have always tried to find confirmation of such a truly comforting idea. After all, you must admit that it is not easy to come to terms with the fact that one day you will die forever. You won’t even be able to immediately realize the inevitability of the future. It is much easier to accept the earthly shell as a temporary refuge for the spirit, which will then go somewhere else.
Modern look
To be objective, an absolutely accurate answer to the question of whether there is an afterlife has not yet been obtained. Neither science nor religion can provide any specific facts confirming the existence of the “other world.” And this forces humanity to continue searching. The development of culture, religions, and related theories about the world order, of course, gave us answers to this burning question. But in each teaching it is different. Who to believe when Buddhists firmly believe in rebirth, while Christianity talks quite convincingly about Hell and Heaven?
Religious ideas about death
However, there are several common ideas that unite all existing religious teachings. First, each of them confidently answers that yes, there is an afterlife. This statement is fundamental, lies at the very basis of any teaching and therefore is not subject to criticism. Religion itself is built on the division of the world into material and otherworldly components. The latter includes the fact of the existence of life after death.
Another important statement in most religions is that man has a dual nature. One part - the body - is a temporary vessel for another part - the soul. It is obvious that the latter, due to its eternity, is an incomparably more important aspect of any individual. It is she who needs to be protected and preserved by doing the right things. Death, according to all religious teachings, occurs at the moment of separation of the soul from its bodily shell.
The most convincing evidence of an afterlife is usually based on this last fact. A striking example here can be the impressions of people who had the opportunity to experience. Many then describe in detail the experiences and unusual sensations they experienced at the moment of cessation of cardiac activity. Up to soaring in the air, unusual lightness and observing your motionless body from the side.
It is also very common to talk about a classic tunnel and a distant light source. Moreover, this is such a common scenario that it can be viewed from only two positions: either “the other world” still exists, so everyone sees the same thing, or the vision is based on a general stereotype. Most likely, subconsciously expecting the arrival of death, people themselves provoke such hallucinations. After all, everyone knows that there must be a tunnel or at least angels, if you think about it - here they are.
Another materialistic version says that the patients’ condition was influenced by external stimuli. People who had not yet fully recovered from anesthesia could easily mistake a bright surgical lamp for the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Moreover, similar situations happen to us in our dreams all the time. Someone is knocking loudly behind the wall, music is playing, or a cat is pulling your hair - all these stimuli, one way or another, are reflected in the content of the dream.
One of the most disturbing questions in people’s minds is “is there something there after death or not?” Many religions have been created, each revealing in its own way the secrets of the afterlife. Libraries of books have been written on the topic of life after death.. And, in the end, billions of souls who were once inhabitants of the mortal earth have already gone there, into an unknown reality and distant oblivion. And they are aware of all the secrets, but they won’t tell us. There is a huge gap between the world of the dead and the living . But this is provided that the world of the dead exists.
Various religious teachings, each of which interprets in its own way the further path of a person after leaving the body, generally support the version that there is a soul and it is immortal. Exceptions are the religious movements of Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses; they adhere to the version of the perishability of the soul. And the afterlife, Hell and Paradise, the quintessence of variations of after-life existence, according to most religions, for true worshipers of God will be presented in a much better form than that, that is, on earth. Belief in something superior after death, in the highest justice, in the eternal continuation of life is the basis of many religious worldviews.
And although scientists and atheists claim that a person hopes, because it is inherent in his nature at the genetic level, they say, “ he just needs to believe in something, and preferably global, with a saving mission ”, - this does not become an “antidote” to craving for religions. Even if we take into account the genetic craving for God, where did it come from in pure consciousness?
The soul and where it is located
Soul- This is an immortal substance, not tangible and not measured using material standards. Something connecting spirit and body, individual, identifying a person as a person. There are many people who are similar in appearance, twin brothers and sisters are simply copies of each other, and there are also plenty of “doubles” who are not related by blood. But these people will always differ in their inner spiritual filling, and this concerns not the level, quality and scale of thoughts and desires, but above all the abilities, facets, characteristics, and potential of the individual. The soul is something that accompanies us on earth, reviving the mortal shell.
Most people are sure that the soul is in the heart, or somewhere in the solar plexus; there are opinions that it is in the head, the brain. Scientists, in the course of a series of experiments, have established that when animals are electrocuted at a meat processing plant, a certain ethereal substance comes out at the moment of death from the upper part of the head (skull). The soul was measured: in the course of experiments carried out at the beginning of the 20th century by the American physician Duncan McDougall, it was established soul weight - 21 grams . Six patients lost approximately this much weight at the time of death, which the doctor was able to record using ultra-sensitive bed scales on which the dying people lay. However, later experiments carried out by other doctors established that a person loses similar body weight when falling into sleep.
Is death just a long (eternal) sleep?
The Bible says the soul is in the blood. During the Old Testament, and even to this day, Christians were forbidden to drink or eat processed animal blood.
“For the life of every body is its blood, it is the soul of it; Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of any body, for the life of every body is its blood; whoever eats it will be cut off.” (Old Testament, Leviticus 17:14)
“...and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food. And it became so" (Genesis 1:30)
That is, living creatures have a soul, but they are deprived of the ability to think, make decisions, and they lack highly organized mental activity. If any soul is immortal, then animals will also be in spiritual embodiment in the afterlife. However, the same Old Testament says that previously all animals simply ceased to exist after physical death, without any other continuation. The main goal of their life was stated: to be eaten; born to be “captured and exterminated.” The immortality of the human soul was also questioned.
“I spoke in my heart about the sons of men, so that God would test them, and so that they would see that they are animals in themselves; because the fate of the sons of men and the fate of animals is the same fate: as they die, so these die, and everyone has the same breath, and man has no advantage over cattle, because everything is vanity! Everything goes to one place: everything came from dust and everything will return to dust. Who knows whether the spirit of the sons of men ascends upward, and whether the spirit of animals descends down to the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:18-21)
But the hope for Christians is that animals in one of their incorruptible forms remain incorruptible, because in the New Testament, in particular in the Revelation of John the Theologian, there are lines that there will be many animals in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The New Testament says that accepting Christ's sacrifice gives life to all people who desire salvation. Those who do not accept this, according to the Bible, do not have Eternal Life. Whether this means that they will go to Hell or that they will hang somewhere in a state of “spiritually disabled” is unknown. In Buddhist teachings, reincarnation implies that the soul that previously belonged to a person and accompanied him can settle in an animal in the next life. And man himself in Buddhism takes a dual position, that is, he does not seem to be “pressed” as in Christianity, but he is not the Crown of Creation, the lord over all living things.
And it is located somewhere between the lower entities, “demons” and other evil spirits and the highest, enlightened Buddhas. His path and subsequent reincarnation depend on the degree of enlightenment in today's life. Astrologers talk about the existence of seven human bodies, not just the soul, spirit and body. Etheric, astral, mental, causal, budhial, atmanic and, of course, physical. According to esotericists, six bodies are part of the soul, while according to some esotericists, they accompany the soul on earthly paths.
There are many teachings, treatises and doctrines that in their own way interpret the essence of being, life and death. And, of course, not all are true; truth, as they say, is one. It’s easy to get lost in the wilds of someone else’s worldview; it’s important to stick to the position you’ve once chosen. Because if everything was simple and we knew the answer that there, at the other end of life, there would not be so many guesses, and as a result, global, radically different versions.
Christianity distinguishes the spirit, soul and body of man:
“In His hand is the soul of every living thing and the spirit of all human flesh.” (Job 12:10)
Moreover, there is no doubt that spirit and soul are different phenomena, but what is their difference? Does the spirit (its presence is also mentioned in animals) go after death to another world or the soul? And if the spirit leaves, what happens to the soul?
Termination of life and clinical death
Doctors distinguish biological, clinical and final death. Biological death implies cessation of cardiac activity, respiration, blood circulation, depression followed by cessation of reflexes of the central nervous system. Final - all of the listed signs of biological death, including brain death. Clinical death precedes biological death and is a reversible transitional state from life to death.
After stopping breathing and heartbeat, during resuscitation measures, bringing a person back to life without serious damage to health is possible only in the first few minutes: up to a maximum of 5 minutes, more often within 2-3 minutes after the pulse stops.
Cases of safe return even after 10 minutes of clinical death have been described. Resuscitation is carried out within 30 minutes after cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest or loss of consciousness in the absence of circumstances that make resuming life impossible. Sometimes 3 minutes are enough for the development of irreversible changes in the brain. In cases of death of a person in conditions of low temperature, when metabolism is slowed down, the interval of a successful “return” to life increases and can reach 2 hours after cardiac arrest. Despite the strong opinion, based on medical practice, that after 8 minutes without heartbeat and breathing, the patient is unlikely to be brought back to life without serious consequences for his health in the future, hearts begin to beat, people come to life. And they meet their future life without serious violations of the functions and systems of the body. Sometimes the 31st minute of resuscitation is decisive. However, most people who have experienced prolonged clinical death rarely return to their previous fullness of existence, some go into a vegetative state.
There have been cases where doctors mistakenly recorded biological death, and the patient later came to, scaring morgue workers more than all the horror films they had ever watched. Lethargic dreams, decreased functions of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems with suppression of consciousness and reflexes, but preservation of life are a reality, and it is possible to confuse an imaginary death with a true one.
And yet here is a paradox: if the soul is in the blood, as the Bible says, then where is it in a person who is in a vegetative state or in an “exorbitant coma”? Who is artificially kept alive with the help of machines, but doctors have long since established irreversible changes in the brain or brain death? At the same time, denying the fact that when blood circulation stops, life stops is absurd.
See God and not die
So what did they, people who experienced clinical death, see? There is plenty of evidence. Someone says that Hell and Heaven appeared before him in colors, someone saw angels, demons, dead relatives, and communicated with them. Someone traveled, flying like a bird, all over the earth, feeling neither hunger, nor pain, nor the same self. Another person sees his whole life flashing by in pictures in a moment; another sees himself and the doctors from the outside.
But in most descriptions there is the famous mysterious and deadly image of light at the end of the tunnel. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is explained by several theories. According to psychologist Pyell Watson, this is a prototype of the passage through the birth canal, a person at the time of death remembers his birth. According to Russian resuscitator Nikolai Gubin - manifestations of toxic psychosis.
In an experiment conducted by American scientists with laboratory mice, it was found that animals, when experiencing clinical death, see the same tunnel with light at the end. And the reason is much more banal than the approach of the afterlife illuminating the darkness. In the first minutes after the heartbeat and breathing stop, the brain produces powerful impulses, which are received by the dying as the image described above. Moreover, brain activity in these very moments is incredibly high, which contributes to the appearance of vivid visions and hallucinations.
The appearance of pictures from the past is due to the fact that new brain structures begin to fade first, then old ones; when brain activity resumes, the process occurs in the reverse order: first, old, then new areas of the cerebral cortex begin to function. What causes the most significant pictures of the past, then the present, to “emerge” in the emerging consciousness. I don’t want to believe that everything is so simple, right? I really want everything to be entangled in mysticism, implicated in the most bizarre assumptions, shown in bright colors, with feelings, spectacles, and tricks.
The consciousness of many people refuses to believe in an ordinary death without mystery, without continuation . And is it really possible to agree that one day you will no longer exist at all? And there will be no eternity, or at least any continuation... When you look inside yourself, sometimes the worst thing is to feel the hopelessness of the situation, the finitude of existence, the unknown, not knowing what’s next and walking into the abyss blindfolded.
“So many of them have fallen into this abyss, I'll open it up in the distance! The day will come when I too will disappear From the surface of the earth. Everything that sang and fought will freeze, It shone and burst. And the green of my eyes and my gentle voice, And gold hair. And there will be life with its daily bread, With the forgetfulness of the day. And everything will be as if under the sky And I wasn’t there!” M. Tsvetaeva “Monologue”
The lyrics can be endless, since death is the biggest mystery; everyone who, no matter how they avoid thinking about this topic, will have to experience everything firsthand. If the picture were unambiguous, obvious and transparent, we would long ago have been convinced by thousands of discoveries by scientists, stunning results obtained from experiments, versions of various teachings about the absolute mortality of the body and soul. But no one has been able to establish and prove with absolute accuracy what awaits us at the other end of life. Christians are waiting for Heaven, Buddhists are waiting for reincarnation, esotericists are waiting for flight to the astral plane, tourists are continuing their travels, etc.
But recognizing the existence of God is reasonable, since many who during their lifetime denied the highest justice in the Next World often repent of their ardor before death. They remember the One who was so often deprived of a place in their spiritual temple.
Have survivors of clinical death seen God? If you have ever heard or will hear that someone in a state of clinical death saw God, strongly doubt it.
First, God will not meet you at the “gate”, he is not a doorman... Everyone will appear before God's judgment during the Apocalypse, that is, for the majority - after the stage of rigor mortis. By that time, it’s unlikely that anyone will be able to return and talk about that Light. “Seeing God” is not an adventure for the faint of heart. In the Old Testament (in Deuteronomy) there are words that no one has yet seen God and remained alive. God spoke to Moses and the people at Horeb from the midst of the fire, without revealing an image, and even to God in a hidden form people were afraid to come close.
The Bible also states that God is spirit, and spirit is immaterial, therefore, we cannot see him as each other. Although the miracles performed by Christ during His stay on earth in the flesh spoke of the opposite: one can return to the world of the living already during or after the funeral. Let us remember the resurrected Lazarus, who was revived on the 4th day, when it had already begun to stink. And his testimony about another world. But Christianity is more than 2000 years old; during this time, have there been many people (not counting believers) who read the lines about Lazarus in the New Testament and believed in God based on this? Likewise, thousands of testimonies and miracles for those who are convinced in advance of the opposite may be meaningless and in vain.
Sometimes you have to see it for yourself to believe it. But even personal experience tends to be forgotten. There is a moment of replacing the actual with the desired, of excessive impressionability - when people really want to see something, during life they often and a lot picture it in their minds, and during and after clinical death they complete their impressions based on sensations. According to statistics, the majority of people who saw something grandiose after cardiac arrest, Hell, Heaven, God, demons, etc. - were mentally unstable. Resuscitation doctors, who have observed clinical death situations more than once and saved people, say that in the overwhelming majority of cases the patients saw nothing.
It so happened that the author of these lines once visited the Other World. I was 18 years old. A relatively easy operation turned into almost real death due to an overdose of anesthesia by doctors. There is light at the end of the tunnel, a tunnel that looks like an endless hospital corridor. Just a couple of days before I ended up in the hospital, I was thinking about death. I thought that a person should have movement, have a goal of development, in the end, family, children, career, study, and all this should be loved by him. But somehow there was so much “depression” around at that moment that it seemed to me that everything was in vain, life was meaningless, and maybe it would be nice to leave before this “torment” had yet to fully begin. I don't mean suicidal thoughts, but rather fear of the unknown and the future. Difficult family circumstances, work and study.
And now the flight into oblivion. After this tunnel - and after the tunnel I just saw a girl, a doctor looking into whose face, covering her with a blanket, putting a tag on her toe - I heard a question. And this question is perhaps the only thing that I could not find an explanation for, where it came from, who asked it. “I wanted to leave. Will you go?” And it’s as if I’m listening, but I don’t hear anyone, neither the voice, nor what’s happening around me, I’m shocked that death exists. The entire period while she observed everything and then, after returning consciousness, repeated the same question, her own, “So, death is a reality? Can I die? I died? And now I will see God?”
At first I saw myself from the doctors’ side, but not in exact forms, but blurred and chaotic, mixed with other images. I didn’t understand at all that they were saving me. The more manipulations they performed, the more it seemed to me that they were saving someone else. I heard the names of medications, doctors talking, screams, and, as if yawning lazily, I decided to also cheer up the person being rescued and began to say in unison with the alarmists, “Breathe, open your eyes. Come to your senses, etc.” I was sincerely worried about him. I spun around the entire crowd, then it was as if I saw everything that would happen next: a tunnel, a morgue with a tag, some orderlies weighing my sins on Soviet scales...
I become some kind of small grain of rice (these are the associations that arise in my memories). There are no thoughts, only sensations, and my name was not at all like my mother and father’s name, the name was generally a temporary earthly number. And it seemed that I had been alive for only a thousandth of the eternity into which I was going. But I didn’t feel like a person, some small substance, I don’t know, a spirit or a soul, I understand everything, but I just can’t react. I don’t understand it like before, but I am aware of the new reality, but I can’t get used to it, I felt very uneasy. My life seemed like a spark that burned for a second, then went out quickly and imperceptibly.
There was a feeling that there was an exam ahead (not a trial, but some kind of selection), for which I had not prepared, but I would not be presented with anything serious, I had not done any evil or good to the extent that it was worth it. But it’s as if she’s frozen in the moment of death, and it’s impossible to change anything, to somehow influence fate. There was no pain, no regrets, but I was haunted by a feeling of discomfort and confusion about how I, so small, the size of a grain, would live. Without thoughts, there were none, everything was at the level of feelings. After being in a room (as I understand it, a morgue), where I stayed for a long time near a body with a tag on my finger and could not leave this place, I begin to look for a way out, because I want to fly further, it’s boring here and I’m not here anymore. I fly through the window and fly towards the light, with speed, suddenly there is a flash, akin to an explosion. Everything is very bright. Apparently at this moment the return begins.
A period of silence and emptiness, and again a room with doctors, manipulating me, but as if with someone else. The last thing I remember is the incredibly strong pain and pain in my eyes from being shone with a flashlight. And the pain in my whole body is hellish, I again wet myself with earthly, and somehow wrongly, it seems that I stuffed my legs into my hands. I felt like I was a cow, square, made of plasticine, I really didn’t want to go back, but they pushed me in. I’ve almost come to terms with the fact that I left, but now I have to go back again. I got in. It still hurt for a long time, I began to go hysterical from what I saw, but I couldn’t speak or even explain the reason for the roar to anyone. During the rest of my life, I endured anesthesia again for several hours, everything was quite well, except for the chills after. There were no visions. A decade has passed since my “flight”, and a lot, of course, has happened in life since then. And I quite rarely told anyone about that long-ago event, but when I did share, most of those listening were very concerned about the answer to the question “did I see God or not?” And although I repeated a hundred times that I did not see God, they sometimes asked me again and with a twist: “What about Hell or Heaven?” Did not see… This does not mean that they are not there, it means that I have not seen them.
Let's return to the article, or rather finish it. By the way, the story “Sliver” by V. Zazubrin, which I read after my clinical death, left a serious imprint on my attitude towards life in general. Maybe the story is depressing, too realistic and bloody, but that’s exactly what it seemed to me: life is a sliver...
But through all the revolutions, executions, wars, deaths, illnesses, we saw something that is eternal: soul. And it’s not scary to end up in the other world, it’s scary to end up and not be able to change anything, while realizing that you failed the test. But life is definitely worth living, at least to pass exams...
What are you living for?..
There is no death - life is also in full swing in the next world. This is evidenced by numerous messages from the afterlife - the voices of the dead are received on the radio, on computers and even on mobile phones. This is hard to believe, but it is a fact. The author of these lines was also rather a skeptic - until he witnessed such contact with the afterlife in St. Petersburg.
We wrote about this in three June issues of the newspaper “Life” this year, 2009. And calls came from all over the country, responses on the Internet. Readers argue, doubt, are surprised, give thanks - the topic of contacts with the afterlife touched a nerve in everyone. Many people ask for the address of scientists who are engaged in such experiments. That's why we returned to this topic. Here is the website address of the Russian Association of Instrumental Transcommunication (RAITK) - a public organization that studies the phenomenon of electronic voices: http://www.rait.airclima.ru/association.htm
Through this site you can contact the head of RAITC, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Artem Mikheev and his colleagues. But I want to warn everyone - the research is still at the experimental stage. Keep in mind that RAITC is not a company providing occult services; its members are engaged in science.
And one more important tip. Do not rush to try to make contact with another world on your own using modern technologies; this is still the lot of few scientists. Believe me, the load on a psyche unprepared for such contacts is very great! Maybe it’s enough for you to go to church, light a candle and pray for the repose of your friends and relatives who have passed on to another world? Take comfort in the fact that the soul is immortal. And separation from people dear to you who have gone to another world is only temporary.
Revelations
The first targeted contact - that is, a connection with a specific person who has gone to another world - was a radio bridge established by the Svitnev family from St. Petersburg.
Their son Dmitry was killed in a car accident, but his parents found a way to hear their dear voice again. Candidate of Technical Sciences Vadim Svitnev and his colleagues from RAITC, using specially designed instruments and a computer, established communication with another world. And it was Mitya who responded to the questions of his father and mother! The son they buried answered from the other world: “We are all alive with the Lord!”
This amazing two-way contact continues for more than a year. Parents record all negotiations electronically - more than three thousand files of answers to their questions. The information that comes from the other world is amazing - much goes against our traditional ideas about the afterlife.
At the request of the readers of “Life”, I asked the questions you were interested in to Natasha and Vadim Svitnev, Mitya’s parents. Here are their answers.
– By what exact phrases, facts, intonations do you identify your interlocutor from the Other World?
Answer: Don't you recognize your child's voice from billions of others? Any voice has intonations and shades that are unique to it. Our Mitya has a characteristic, recognizable voice - very soft, penetrating into the very heart. When we showed the recordings with Mitya’s voice to his friends, they asked when they were made, being absolutely sure that this was done before the tragic event that interrupted Mitya’s life. We communicate with a very large number of people from the other side. In conversations they introduce themselves to us by name. Among Mitya’s friends there are Fedor, Sergei, Stas, Sasha, and Andrei was once mentioned. And friends on the other side sometimes call Mitya himself by his “nickname” on the Internet, which he chose for himself a long time ago - MNTR, a mirror image of the name Mitya. Vadim and his colleagues welcomed him to the contact. For example, one of Vadim’s managers who switched to the “other side” got in touch with congratulations: “Vadyusha, I congratulate you on Fleet Day!” And to the question: “Who am I talking to?” came the answer: “Yes, I am Gruzdev.” Moreover, except for this man, no one ever called Vadim “Vadyusha.” And sometimes they address Natasha by her maiden name, Titlyanova, jokingly calling her Titlyashkina, Titlyandiya.
– How does a person feel in the Other World – in the first seconds, days, weeks, months?
Answer: As we are told on the contacts, there is no interruption on that side. The gap exists only on our side. The transition is absolutely painless.
– What does what is happening on Earth look like from there?
Answer: From the other world, this question is answered like this: “Your life is a huge anthill. You constantly hurt yourself. On Earth you are in a dream."
– Is it possible to predict certain events from the Other World?
Answer: Events distant in time from the present moment are seen less clearly from the other world than nearby ones. There were many predictive or anticipatory messages, such as a warning about a gang attack on a neighbor's boy three months before the incident.
– What needs do humans retain in the Other World? For example, physiological - breathe, eat, drink, sleep?
Answer: As for needs, everything is very simple: “I am completely alive. Mitya is the same.” “It’s a stressful time for us, we’ve barely slept for three months.”
Once Mitya said during a communication session: “Now, mom, listen carefully,” and I heard him sigh. He breathed carefully loudly so that I could hear his breathing. These were real, ordinary sighs of a living person. They tell us that they never have time to eat - they have a lot of work.
Native
– To what extent are family contacts maintained there?
Answer: Mitya often tells me about my mother - her grandmother, that she is there, and my mother, like my father, were also present at the contacts several times. Moreover, when I began to really miss my mother, Mitya invited her, and since she was Ukrainian by origin, she spoke to me in pure Ukrainian. Vadim also talked with his mother. Of course, family ties remain.
– How do they live and where do they live – are there cities, villages?
Answer: Mitya told us that he lives in the village and even explained how to find him. And one of our best contacts heard his address when they called him: “Lesnaya Street, northern house.”
– Is the date of departure of each of us predetermined or not?
Answer: There is no talk of a departure date during our contacts. We are constantly reminded that we are immortal: “You are eternal in our eyes.”
– Were there any clues from the other world in everyday things?
Answer: Once Vadim was told by a contact that he had 36 rubles in his pocket. Vadim checked and was surprised to see that it was exactly 36 rubles.
Egor, our youngest son, was repairing a bicycle and could not determine the malfunction, and Vadim was conducting a communication session at that time. Suddenly Vadim turns to Yegor and says: “Mitya said that your axle is damaged.” The diagnosis was confirmed.
– Are there animals in the afterlife?
Answer: There was also such a case: the guys from the other side brought a dog to the communication session. We heard and recorded her barking.
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