Глава 4 Мытарства (частный суд по смерти)

About the posthumous state of our souls, as much as is necessary for us is revealed to us in the word of God and the teachings of the church; and the undiscovered is not open because it is not necessary, because it is unnecessary for us in our present life, and because it would remain incomprehensible to us, inconceivable for us. The Holy Apostle Paul, who during his earthly life was honored to penetrate into the mysteries of the future, when he was raptured into paradise, said that he heard there ineffable words that a person cannot retell. The Orthodox Church teaches that the soul of a person, after separation from the body, is brought to God for judgment, which, in contrast to the general, final judgment, is called private, because it is not performed solemnly in the face of the whole world and is intended to determine the fate of the soul not for all eternity, like the final judgment, but only until the general resurrection. And that this judgment will actually take place, we are assured from the Holy Scriptures. The Apostle Paul said: it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. From the Savior’s parable about the rich man and Lazarus it is also clearly revealed that after death a certain decision of fate immediately follows, depending on the deeds of the deceased, therefore, judgment occurs. The undoubted reality of such a judgment also follows both from the concept of earthly life, the field of testing, and from the concept of God, our Creator, Judge and Rewarder; That’s why the son of Sirach says, citing the belief of the Old Testament church, “that it is convenient before God on the day of death to reward a man according to his deeds” (Sir.11:26). The private judgment of God over souls, according to the teachings of the church, is preceded by torture or testing them in the so-called ordeals, through which they, accompanied by angels, pass into the airy region, and where evil spirits, being in their area, detain them and expose all the sins they have committed in life. The disciple of St. Basil the New (who lived in the first half of the 10th century), Gregory, was revealed in a vision the circumstances of the hour of death and the ordeal of Blessed Theodora. This is what blessed Theodora told him: When I approached the end of my life and the hour of separation from my body had come, I saw many Ethiopians standing near my bed; their faces were black as soot and tar, their eyes were like hot coals, and their gaze was so terrible that it was impossible to say. They looked at me furiously, gnashing their teeth, as if they wanted to devour me. Immediately they prepared papers, as if awaiting some kind of judge, and unrolled scrolls in which all my evil deeds were written down. My poor soul was in unspeakable fear and trembling. The appearance of the Ethiopians is terrible, and their voices cannot be heard. Exhausted to the end, I finally saw two bright angels of God who approached me in the form of beautiful young men. Their clothes shone with light, and they were girded crosswise on their chests with golden belts. Approaching my bed, they stood on the right side, quietly talking to each other, and I was happy and looked at them cheerfully. At the sight of them, the Ethiopians shuddered and retreated. Then one of the luminous youths sternly said to them: “O shameless, damned and evil enemies of the human race! Why are you always in a hurry to come to the dying and with your screams you confuse the soul that is being separated from the body? Don't rejoice; here you will not find anything for yourself: God had mercy on this soul, and you have nothing in common with it!” The Ethiopians screamed furiously and began to show notes about the evil deeds I had done from my youth, saying: “We have nothing to do with her? Whose sins are these? Wasn’t she the one who created them?” Shouting in this way, they waited for my death. And then death came, and the last breath left my lips, and the luminous angels took my soul in their hands. I looked back and saw that my body was lying without feeling or movement. Just as if someone had taken off his clothes and looked at them, so I looked at my body as if at clothes, and was very surprised at this. While the holy angels were holding me, demons in the form of Ethiopians surrounded us and shouted: “This soul has many sins, let him answer for them!” And they began to show my sins, and the holy angels began to look for my good deeds and found through the grace of God everything that I had done with its help. They collected everything that I had ever done that was good: whether I gave alms to the poor, or fed the hungry, or gave drink to the thirsty, or clothed the naked, or brought a strange person into the house and put him to rest, or served the servants of God, or visited the sick and sitting in prison and consoled him; whether she came with zeal to the church of God and prayed with tenderness and tears, or listened attentively to church readings and singing, or brought incense and candles to the church, or filled church lamps with oil to illuminate the holy icons and kissed the icons with reverence; either she fasted and abstained on Wednesdays, Fridays, and during all holy fasts, or she bowed down and spent the night in vigil, or she sighed to God and cried about her sins, or she confessed her sins to her spiritual father with heartfelt regret for them and tried to make satisfaction for them; or did something kind to her neighbors, was not angry with her enemies, did not remember to be angry and meekly endured annoyances and reproaches, repaid evil with good, humbled herself, pitied the misfortune of others and sympathized with those who were suffering, comforted someone who was crying and gave him a helping hand, assisted someone in a good deed, but turned away someone from a bad deed; or she herself turned my eyes away from vanity and kept my tongue from swearing, lying, slander and vanity - and all my other, even the smallest good deeds, one after another, the holy angels collected and prepared to put on the scales against my evil deeds. The Ethiopians, looking at this, gnashed their teeth at me, because they wanted to immediately snatch me from the hands of the angels and bring me down to the bottom of hell. At this very time, the Reverend Father Vasily unexpectedly appeared there and said to the holy angels: “Holy angels! This soul served a lot for the repose of my old age, and therefore I prayed to God for it, and God gave it to me.” Having said this, he took out from his bosom something like a bag of gold and gave it to the angels with the words: “This is a treasure of prayer before the Lord for this soul! When you go through airy ordeals and crafty spirits begin to torment her, then redeem her with this from her debts.” After this he left, but the evil spirits, seeing the gift of St. Basil, at first stood in bewilderment, then raised lamentable cries and became invisible. Then the saint of God, Vasily, appeared again, carrying with him many vessels of pure oil and precious myrrh, which he poured all over me, one after another, which made me filled with a spiritual fragrance and felt that I had changed and became very bright. And again the saint said to the angels: “When you, holy angels, have done everything necessary for this soul, then bring it into the abode prepared for me by the Lord, let it remain there.” After this he became invisible; and the holy angels took me, and we went east through the air. (Ordeal 1). When we walked from the earth to the heights of heaven, we were first met by the airy spirits of the first ordeal, at which the sins of idle talk, that is, conversations of reckless, nasty, disorderly, are tortured. We stopped, and many scrolls were brought out in front of us, in which were written down all the words that I had uttered indecently and recklessly from my youth, and especially if they expressed something shameful or blasphemous, as often happens in the language of young people. I saw written down there all my idle talk, foul language, all the worldly shameless songs, disorderly screams, laughter and laughter. With all this, the evil spirits denounced me, pointing to the time and place when, where and with whom I engaged in vain conversation and angered God with my obscene words, not considering this a sin, and therefore did not confess them to my spiritual father and did not repent. I was silent as if speechless, not being able to answer, because the evil spirits correctly reproached me. When I was silent, ashamed and trembling with fear, the holy angels put in some of my good deeds, and filled up what was missing from the treasure donated by the Reverend Father Basil, and with this they ransomed me. (Ordeal 2). From there we went higher and approached the ordeal of lies, in which every false word is tortured, that is, perjury, invoking the name of God in vain, false witness, failure to fulfill the vows given to God, insincere and untrue confession of sins, and the like. The spirits of this ordeal are evil and ferocious; they stopped us and began to test us in detail. But I was convicted of only two things: first, that I sometimes happened to lie about unimportant things, and I didn’t even consider it a sin; secondly, out of false shame, I used to insincerely confess to my spiritual father. But perjury, perjury and similar iniquities were not found in me, by the grace of Christ. At this ordeal, the holy angels put some of my good deeds against my sins, and more than that, the prayers of my spiritual father redeemed me, and we went higher. (Ordeal 3). We have reached the ordeal of tormenting condemnation and slander. Then they stopped us, and I realized how grave the sin of judging one’s neighbor is and how great the evil is to slander someone, condemn, dishonor, blaspheme, scold and laugh at the shortcomings of others. Such sinners are tortured by fierce torturers as Antichrists who have anticipated the right to judge others. But, by the grace of Christ, a few of these sins were found in me, because all the days of my life I diligently tried not to condemn anyone, not to slander anyone, not to laugh at anyone and not to scold anyone. Only sometimes, listening to others how they condemn, slander or laugh at someone, it happened to me to agree a little with them in thought or through carelessness to add my own word, and immediately I became angry and stopped; but even the very attempt was charged by the torturers with condemnation and slander. And then the angels, having redeemed me with the gift of the prayers of St. Basil, went higher with me. (Ordeal 4). We reached the ordeal of gluttony, and immediately the evil spirits ran out to meet us in the hope of finding prey for themselves. Their faces were stingy, similar to the faces of voluptuous gluttons and vile drunkards. Walking around us like dogs, they immediately showed the count of all the cases of gluttony, when I secretly ate either beyond need, or in the morning, without praying and without protecting myself with the sign of the cross, I ate food, or during holy fasts I ate before the church service. They also presented all the cases of my drunkenness, they even showed the very bowls, glasses and other vessels from which I got drunk at such and such a time, at such and such a feast, with such and such interlocutors. And they showed all my gluttony in detail and rejoiced, as if they had already got me into their hands. I trembled, seeing such a denunciation, and did not know what to answer in spite of it. But the holy angels, having taken enough from the gift of St. Basil, put it against my sins and ransomed me. Seeing the ransom, the evil spirits cried out: “Woe to us! Our works and hopes are gone!” And they threw their notes about my gluttony into the air, and I rejoiced, and we moved on. As we walked, the holy angels talked to each other like this: “Truly, this soul has great help from the saint of God Vasily, and if not for his prayers, then she would have suffered a lot of need in aerial ordeals.” And I, having taken courage, told them: “It seems to me, holy angels, that no one living on earth knows what is happening here and what awaits the soul after death.” But the angels answered me: “Does not the Divine Scripture, read in churches and preached by the clergy, testify to all this? Only people addicted to earthly vanity neglect this, and, considering daily overeating and drunkenness the greatest pleasure, they always eat without measure and get drunk, forgetting the fear of God. Having their belly instead of God, they do not think about the future life and do not remember what is said in scripture: Woe to you who are full now, for you will hunger, and to you who are drunk, because you will thirst. However, whoever is merciful and merciful to the poor and needy and helps those in need of help, easily receives forgiveness of his sins from God and, for the sake of his mercy towards his neighbors, goes through ordeals without stopping. It is said in scripture: alms delivers from death and thus cleanses all sin; He who does alms and righteousness will be filled with life. And whoever does not try to cleanse his sins with alms, it is impossible for him to avoid the dark tax collectors, who bring them down to hell and keep them in bonds until the Last Judgment of Christ. And you would not have escaped a cruel fate here if you had not received the treasures of the prayers of St. Basil.” (Ordeal 5). In such a conversation, we reached the ordeal of sloth, where sinners are tortured for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites who lived on the labors of others, but did not want to work themselves, and mercenaries who took wages, but did not fulfill their obligations assumed upon themselves, are immediately detained. Those who are careless about glorifying God are also tortured there, and are lazy on holidays and Sundays to go to church for morning services, the Divine Liturgy and other sacred services. There, in general, despondency and negligence of both worldly and spiritual people are experienced, and everyone’s negligence about their soul is examined, and many from there are relegated to the abyss. And I was tested there a lot, and it would have been impossible for me to be freed from debts if the holy angels had not made up for my shortcomings with the gifts of St. Basil. (Ordeal 6). From there we came to the ordeal of theft, where, although we were stopped for a while, but, having given a little ransom, we went further: because theft did not occur to me, except for very unimportant cases in my childhood, which occurred from unreason. (Ordeal 7). We went through the ordeal of love of money and stinginess without arrest, because, by the grace of God, I never in my life cared about much acquisition and was not a lover of money, I was content with what God gave, and was not stingy, but what I had, I diligently distributed to those in need. (Ordeal 8). Having risen higher, we encountered the ordeal of extortion, where those who give money for illegal interest are tortured, and all others who profit at the expense of their neighbors, bribe-takers and appropriators of others. The torturers, not finding extortion from me, gnashed their teeth in frustration, and we, thanking God, went higher. (Ordeal 9). The ordeal of untruth has opened before us, where unjust judges are tortured, who out of selfish acquittal of the guilty and condemn the innocent, as well as people who do not give mercenaries the agreed payment or in trade use the wrong weight or measure, and in general everyone who commits some kind of injustice. But we, by the grace of God, went through this ordeal comfortably and gave very little to atone for my sins. (Ordeal 10). We went through the ordeal of envy without paying anything, because I never envied. They are immediately tortured for dislike, brotherly hatred, unfriendliness and hatred; but, by the mercy of Christ our God, I turned out to be innocent of these sins, and although I saw the fury of the demons gnashing against me, I was no longer afraid of them, and we, rejoicing, went higher. (Ordeal 11). We have also gone through the ordeal of pride, where arrogant spirits are tortured for vanity, arrogance, contempt for others and grandeur; here the souls of people are tortured for failure to give due honor to parents, government and authorities appointed by God, and for disobedience to them. We put very little here for my redemption, and I was free. (Ordeal 12). Then we reached the ordeal of anger and rage, and although the aerial torturers there are very ferocious, they received little from us, and we went further, rejoicing in the Lord, under the cover of the prayers of my venerable father Vasily. (Ordeal 13). Therefore, the ordeal of resentment opened before us, where those who in their hearts harbor anger towards their neighbor and repay evil for evil are tested without mercy. The mercy of the Lord saved me here too, because I was not angry against anyone and did not remember the insults inflicted on me, but, on the contrary, always, to the best of my ability, showed love and kindness to those who offended me, defeating evil with good. We didn’t pay anything here and, rejoicing in the Lord, we moved on. Then I dared to ask the angels who led me: tell me, how do these terrible rulers of the air know in such detail all the evil deeds of people, and not only obvious, but also secret? The angels answered me like this: “Every Christian, after holy baptism, receives from God a guardian angel assigned to him, who, invisibly protecting a person, instructs him day and night in every good deed and writes down all his good deeds, for which a person could receive mercy from the Lord and eternal reward in the kingdom of heaven. And the prince of darkness, who wants to attract the entire human race to his destruction, also appoints one of the evil spirits so that, walking after a person, he will notice all his evil deeds and, encouraging him with his machinations to such deeds, write down everything bad that a person will do. Such an evil spirit carries all the sins of a person through ordeals, and that is why they are known to the princes of the air. When the soul is separated and wants to go to its Creator in heaven, then the evil spirits forbid this, showing it the sins it has committed, and if the soul has more good deeds than sins, then they cannot restrain it; and if there are more sins compared to good deeds, then they hold the soul for some time, shut it in the prison of not seeing God and torment it as much as the power of God allows them to torment it, until that soul, through the prayers of the church and the alms of neighbors, receives forgiveness. If any soul turns out to be so sinful and unclean before God that there is no hope of salvation for it, then evil spirits immediately bring it down into the abyss, where a place of eternal torment is prepared for them. There the lost souls are kept until the second coming of the Lord, and then, after being united with their bodies, they will suffer with the devils in fiery Gehenna. And also note,” said the angels, “that only those who are enlightened by faith and holy baptism ascend this way and are tested in ordeals, and non-believers do not come here, because even before separation from the body their souls belong to hell and when they die, the demons, without any testing, take their souls as their proper prey and bring them down into the abyss.” (Ordeal 14). Conversing like this, we reached the ordeal of murder, in which one is tortured not only for robbery, but also for any wound, for any blow inflicted on a neighbor, for panting with anger and pushing. Having given a little something here, we moved on. (Ordeal 15). We passed by the ordeal of sorcery, charm, poisoning, and summoning demons. The local spirits look like reptiles, snakes and toads, they are scary and disgusting. By the grace of God, they did not find anything in me, and we went further, accompanied by the cry of demons: “You will come to the ordeal of fornication, we will see how you are freed from there!” As we rose higher, I dared to ask the holy angels: “Do all Christians go through these ordeals, and is it possible to go through here without torture and testing at the ordeals?” The angels answered: “There is no other way for souls ascending to heaven, everyone goes this way, but not everyone is as tortured as you, but only sinners like you, who did not make a full confession of their sins, out of false shame, hiding their shameful deeds before their spiritual father. For whoever sincerely tells in confession all his bad deeds, and regrets and repents of what he has done, his sins are invisibly blotted out by God’s mercy. And when such a repentant soul comes here, the aerial torturers, having opened their books, do not find resolution in them, then trying to make possible satisfaction for them with good deeds, then they would not have been subjected to these terrible tortures in the ordeals. However, it helped you a lot that you had long ago stopped sinning mortally and spent the rest of your life virtuously, and the prayers of St. Basil, whom you served a lot and diligently, especially helped you.” (Ordeal 16). Conversing in this way, we approached the ordeal of fornication, in which not only all fornication is tortured, but also fornication dreams, mental pleasure in it, lustful views, vicious touches and passionate touches. The prince of this ordeal was dressed in unclean and stinking clothes, stained with bloody foam, and many demons stood near him. When they saw me, they were surprised that I had already gone through so many ordeals, and, having brought out notes about all my fornication, they denounced me, pointing to faces, to a place, to a time -. by whom, when and where I sinned in my youth. I was silent and trembled with shame and fear; but the holy angels said to the demons: “She had long ago abandoned fornication and spent the last time of her life in purity, abstinence and fasting.” And the demons answered: “And we know that she stopped sinning a long time ago, but she insincerely confessed to her spiritual father and did not receive from him the proper commandment about satisfaction for sins, therefore she is ours! Either leave it to us, or redeem it with good deeds.” The angels contributed many of my good deeds, and even more from the gift of St. Basil, and I barely got rid of severe misfortune. (Ordeal 17). We have reached the ordeal of adultery, where the sins of people living in marriage, but not being faithful to each other and not keeping their bed undefiled, are tortured, as well as fornication and violence. Here the prodigal sins of persons who dedicated themselves to God and promised to live for Christ, but did not maintain purity, are strictly tortured. And I owed a lot during this ordeal; the evil spirits had already denounced me and wanted to snatch me from the hands of the angels, but the angels argued with them for a long time, presenting all my subsequent labors and exploits, and barely redeemed me - not so much with my good deeds, which put everything here to the last, but with the treasure of my father Vasily, a treasure, which they also put a lot on the scales against my iniquities - and, taking me, they went further. (Ordeal 18). We have approached the ordeal of Sodomy sins, in which all sorts of unnatural sins, incest and other nasty deeds are tortured, committed secretly, which are shameful and scary to even remember. The prince of this ordeal was more disgusting than all the demons, stained with pus and stench, so were his servants, the stench from them was unbearable, the wickedness was unimaginable, the rage and cruelty were inexpressible. They surrounded us, but, by the grace of God, not finding anything in me, they ran away from us in shame, and we moved on. And the holy angels said to me: “You saw, Theodora, the terrible and vile ordeals of the prodigal! Know that few souls pass them without stopping and ransoming, because the whole world lies in the evil of temptations and defilement, and all people are voluptuous. Few people protect themselves from the impurities of prodigals and mortify their carnal lust. That’s why few people pass here freely; very many, having reached prodigal ordeals, die here. The leaders of the fornication ordeals boast that they, more than all the local torturers, fill the fiery abyss of hell with the souls of people. And you, Theodora, thank God that you have already passed through the tortures of fornication, through the prayers of St. Basil, your father, and you will no longer see fear.” (Ordeal 19). After this, we came to the ordeal of heresies, where wrong wisdom about faith, apostasy from the Orthodox confession of faith, unbelief, doubts about faith, censure of sacred things, and so on are tortured. I went through this ordeal without testing, and now we were not far from the gates of heaven. (Ordeal 20). But we were met by the evil spirits of the final ordeal - unmercifulness and cruelty. The torturers here are cruel, and their prince is cruel, seemingly dry and dull. Here the souls of the merciless are tortured without mercy. If someone performed the greatest feats, exhausted himself with fasts, prayed unceasingly and maintained bodily purity, but was unmerciful, such an ordeal would be cast into the abyss of hell and receive no mercy forever. But we, by the grace of Christ, passed comfortably through this place with the help of the prayers of St. Basil. Thus, having freed ourselves from terrible ordeals, we joyfully approached, finally, the very gates of heaven. The heavenly gates seemed to be made of light crystal and shone marvelously. In them stood young men as bright as the sun, who, seeing me with the angels, rejoiced that by the mercy of God I had gotten rid of the airy ordeals, and, welcoming us, led me inside. But what I saw there and what I heard, child Gregory, cannot even be expressed. I saw what the eye of man had never seen, and I heard what the ear had never heard and what no one living on earth had dreamed or imagined. And I was brought to the throne of God’s unapproachable glory, surrounded by cherubim, seraphim and many heavenly warriors, always praising God with unspeakable songs. Having fallen, I bowed to the invisible and incomprehensible God, and the heavenly powers sang a sweet song, glorifying God’s mercy, which is not defeated by human sins. And a voice came from the universe of glory, commanding the angels who brought me to show me all the monasteries of saints and then all the torments of sinners, after which they would place me in the monastery of St. Basil. So, they took me everywhere, and I saw beautiful monasteries of the apostles, prophets, martyrdoms, hierarchs, and so on. All of them were of indescribable beauty and spaciousness, and everywhere I heard the voice of spiritual joy and joy, everywhere I saw the triumph of the saints. All of them, seeing me, rejoiced at my salvation and glorified God, who delivered me from the snares of the enemy. After visiting the bright abodes, I was relegated to the underworld and saw there the terrible and unbearable torment of sinners. Showing them to me, the angels said: “Look, Theodora, from what torment the Lord delivered you through the prayers of his saint Vasily!” I heard the screams, cries and sobs of those suffering there. Some of them screamed terribly and cursed their birthday, but no one showed them mercy. From there the angels led me to this monastery visible to you and installed me here, saying: “Today St. Basil is creating a memory of you.” And I realized that then it was the fortieth day after my separation from the body, and on this day I came to this place of calm” (“Thurs. – Min.”, March 26, in the life of St. Basil the New). The Holy Scripture speaks about the state of righteous souls before the general judgment: firstly, after their departure from this life, they are rewarded for the exploits of earthly life with bliss; Thus, righteous Lazarus immediately after death “was carried... into the bosom of Abraham” (Luke 16:22), and on the cross the Lord said to the repentant thief: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Secondly, they will enjoy peace (Luke 16:25; 2 Cor. 5:8), or freedom from sorrows and suffering, be in communion with the righteous and angels (Matt. 8:11; Luke 16:22), and serve God with praise and prayerful intercession for those living on earth. But this state is not yet the final state. Full glory and bliss of everyone, according to his merits (1 Cor. 3:8), will follow only after the general resurrection and general judgment, when the Lord comes on the appointed day (Acts 17:31) and announces a decisive judgment, whose sentences will never change (Matthew 25:46). It is open about the state of the souls of sinners that they are removed from the presence of God (Matthew 7:21, 8:12), imprisoned in the prison of fallen spirits (1 Peter 3:18), or in hell - a dark and painful place (Luke 16:22), they recognize and feel the loss of bliss (Luke 16:24, 23), feel reproaches of conscience and in vain try to improve their own plight (Luke 16:24–25). But their state will not be the same, but corresponding to the moral state of each individual soul (Matthew 5:22). And again, this state of theirs is not decided forever and final, but transitional - for some into bitterness and eternal unrepentance for evil, and for others into hope for mercy from God and eternal life (Phil. 2:10-11; 1 Peter 3:18-19). The latter are those sinners who on earth did not bear fruits worthy of repentance, but died with the seeds of faith and piety, therefore they do not endure the suffering that unrepentant sinners endure, and remain with the opportunity to receive help from the church. For this is what the apostle teaches: if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that does not lead to death, let him pray, and God will give him life, that is, the one who sins a sin that does not lead to death. “There is sin unto death; I do not mean that he should pray” (1 John 5:16). This means that anyone who has not completely broken away from the church, the body of Christ (Eph. 1:23), as a member of the body, can hope for help from other members and is himself able to accept this help. “If one member suffers, all members suffer with it; If one member is glorified, all members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). Due to such a close connection of Christians with each other, they have the opportunity to help their neighbors, who are separated from them by vast spaces, who are in captivity or prison, oppressed by illnesses, by praying for them to God (Phil. 1:4, 19; Col. 1:9; 2 Tim. 1:3). Prayer, according to the teachings of Scripture, can also influence the world of souls who have departed from us, and extends its power to the region of hell. We cited above the words of the apostles about mortal sin. And the Savior said that there is a sin that cannot be forgiven “neither in this age nor in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32). Consequently, just as there is a mortal sin, for which it is useless to pray, which will not be forgiven either in the present or in the future life, so there are non-mortal sins, for which prayer can be completely fruitful and not in vain. “Every person who had a small leaven of virtues in himself, but did not have time to turn it into bread, because, despite his desire, he could not do this either out of laziness, or carelessness, or because he put it off from day one, but beyond the aspiration to comprehend and reap with death, will not be forgotten by the righteous Judge and Master. The Lord, after his death, will arouse his relatives, neighbors and friends, direct their thoughts, attract hearts and incline souls to provide assistance and help to him. And when God moves them, and the Master touches their hearts, they will hasten to compensate for the omission of the deceased” (St. John of Damascus’s word “about the departed in the Orthodox faith”). Thus, in the afterlife, prisoners of hell receive pardon not for their own repentance, but for the good deeds of people who are alive, for the prayers sent for them by the church in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who took upon Himself the sins of the world and gave us the false promise “if you ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John 14:14) (see “Athos leaf.” No. 32). 2. Stories about a private trial following the death of a person. The lives of the saints contain detailed information about the ordeals. And although this information is often presented in very vivid material and human-shaped pictures, they cannot reject the main idea that evil spirits take their evil part in the fate of the human soul, immediately after its separation from the body. a) St. Joseph the Songwriter, preparing for his departure from this life, prayed: Lord my God! guard my spirit to the end and grant me to escape harmlessly from the prince of darkness and aerial monsters. b) A man resurrected by St. ap. Philip, fell at his feet and said: I thank you, servant of God, that you delivered me from many evils at this hour: two black Ethiopians were dragging me, and if you had not prevented me, they would have plunged me into fierce tartar. c) St. Andrew the Fool saw the soul of one dead man, surrounded by demons who danced and laughed as they saw her off. d) The warrior Taxiot committed the sin of adultery in his life and died in it. Revived a few days later, he told his former ones that during this ordeal he had no good deeds corresponding to his sin, and evil spirits led his soul into the dungeons of hell, where the souls of sinners were in eternal darkness, where there is inconsolable crying, where they cry - and no one pities them or consoles them, where they cry for help, and no one listens to them. e) The Monk Agathon spent three whole days before his death with his eyes open. The brothers decided to touch him and asked: “Where are you?” He answered: “I stand before the judgment seat of God.” f) St. John Climacus tells about one ascetic who labored for forty years, so that even the animals obeyed him. Stefan (that was the name of the ascetic) was also tried while still alive: this was the day before his death. His eyes remained open. He looked first this way and then that and, as if being told by someone, answered either like this: “I confess, it’s true; but I fasted for real sin for so many years”: or “No, I didn’t do that, you’re lying”; or finally: “So, truly so, but I cried and served the brothers.” Apparently, the person making the reservation conceded: “Indeed, it is so, and I don’t know what to say to this; but God has mercy.” All these answers of the dying man were clearly heard by the brothers who surrounded his bed. St. Climacus, having finished this story, draws from here a direct conclusion about the judgment after the death of each person. g) About the importance of true repentance in relation to the ordeals of St. Gregory Dvoeslov tells the following remarkable example: they came to one presbyter to ask him to visit a sick man who was dying, in order to confess and give him communion. The presbyter, who was busy pruning the grapes, slowed down, and when he went to the sick man, those who met him said that the sick man had died. It was hard and sorrowful for the presbyter that the sick man died without a farewell message due to his delay. Arriving at the house of the deceased, he prostrated himself before him and wept, considering himself guilty of it. At this time the deceased came to life. In fear and at the same time in joy they began to ask: what happened to him, and how did the soul return to the body again? The revived one answered; “Some terrible Ethiopians came to me, from whose nostrils flames came, and took me by force and dragged me into some dark and terrible places... But suddenly a bright young man appeared with another of his kind and said to those leading me: bring him back - the priest is crying for him, and for the sake of his tears the Lord is returning his life.” After this, the resurrected dead man confessed, received Holy Communion, remained in unceasing prayer for seven days and died on the 8th day (see the book by Archpriest A. Svirlin: “Orthodox Confession of the Christian Faith in (“Ch. – Min.” by St. Demetrius of Rostov). 3. How does private court work? This judgment occurs at the same time as the soul passes from earth to the spiritual world. The soul must make its way through the air, or, more precisely, through the space that is between earth and sky. Here, according to the teachings of St. fathers, and a place for private court needs to be seen. And as we know from the word of God, evil spirits revolve in the air. Consequently, the soul striving for the heavenly fatherland encounters evil spirits. Saint Athanasius the Great speaks of airspace in this very sense, just as he cites here the words of the Apostle Paul about the servants of the prince of air power. Demons prevent the soul from reaching that place (i.e., heaven) which they themselves have lost and in which they themselves no longer hope to be. What right do they have to stop a soul? The same thing, by virtue of which they appeared to the sinner when his soul was separated from his body, i.e., that the sinner committed the same things as them, therefore, must go to the same place with them, and suffer the same fate as them. They are ready to say everything to the soul at this time (as the saints of God heard them say in the moments of their special visions), for example, “this soul is ours; Until her death she sinned, she was defiled not only by natural, but also by supernatural sins; Moreover, she condemned her neighbor, and what’s worse, she died without repentance.” At the very least, “do demons give free access to righteous souls?” This cannot be said either; because some of the righteous at first were also serious sinners, while others also combined sinful deeds with their good deeds. But evil spirits rejoice only over untruth, but are unable to rejoice over the truth. They would only have a reason to make a claim, something to accuse the soul of. Anthony the Great speaks of the soul itself, which he saw separated from the body and ascended to heaven. The demons intensified to expose the sins that he had committed since birth. But their effort was in vain, because the monk had long since cleansed away the sins of his youth through repentance and strict asceticism. After this, they directly laid unprecedented sins on him 33. And Saint Cyril of Jerusalem teaches: “Especially in a certain way (the devil) tortures the soul, presenting and counting all the sins and iniquities committed by us in deed, in word, in knowledge and ignorance, from youth until the day of death, when the soul lands on the judgment of God 34. All these attacks of demons on the soul agree with the teaching of the word of God, because “the day of cruelty,” which we must fear from them (accept all the weapons of God, that you may be able to resist on the day of cruelty), 35, according to interpreters, 36 also refers to private judgment. The battle of the Christian soul with evil spirits happens at this time, so to speak, face to face, and the soul can only defend itself with all its reserve weapons, that is, an abundance of good deeds. “Do some evil spirits meet in the air space, as if in their own domain, the souls of the dead, then trying to blame these souls, or not?” No, in turn, St. angels descend from heaven to these souls to accompany them and protect them from demonic slander. It is directly said about Lazarus the beggar that when he died, the angels carried his soul to heaven (Luke 16:22). And if angels (as is known) appear to righteous souls at the moments of their separation from their bodies: is it not all the more to be expected that they will provide their assistance to these souls during the secret judgment over them? The Church expresses its belief this time in many of its prayers: “He lifts up his eyes to angels, prays idlely, stretches out his hands to man, has no helper” 37 . So is St. The saints, praying before their death against misfortunes from evil spirits, who foresaw judgment for themselves immediately after death, asked God not to leave them at this time with His protection through angels 38 . St. Chrysostom teaches: “Then we need... many helpers..., great intercession from the angels as we move through the air.” The same universal teacher speaks on behalf of the dead infants: “We had trustworthy leaders: the angels who guided us rejoiced.” 39 St. Cyril of Alexandria also teaches: “Heavenly powers stand against pure spirits and bring good deeds of the soul... between the good and evil angels the soul stands in fear and trembling... looking (at the evil spirits) it becomes confused, becomes agitated, rushes about, tries to hide so as not to see them, angels of God" 40. How many revelations are known in the “Chetia-Menaia”, which clearly prove the presence of souls at the judgment of St. angels! Thus, in the life of the same Anthony the Great it is said that when demons slandered his soul after death, the angels stopped the slanderers. St. Niphon depicts a debate between angels and evil spirits over the souls of those judged. Namely: the evil spirits, accusing one dead man, said that this dead man had sinned gravely on earth and died without repentance. The angels answered: “We will not believe either you or your father, Satan, until we ask the guardian angel of this soul.” The Guardian Angel said: “Exactly, this man sinned a lot, but he just became sick, began to cry and confess his sins 41 . “How long does the post-mortem judgment of a soul last?” Forty days 42, as the Orthodox Church believes. This judgment begins especially for each soul, and it continues especially until the very end, because each person dies at his own specific time. Unbaptized people directly (without trial) come into the power of the devil 43 . Finally, “how does this trial end?” The soul that stands on it is met by many saints. angels. Yes, St. Niphon saw that angels came out of the gates of heaven to meet one righteous soul and, welcoming this soul, glorified God, who did not betray it into the hands of enemies. The God-bearing fathers reveal to us: “If the soul turns out to be worthy of a pious life... then the angels of God accept it, and without sorrow it makes its procession, having holy powers as companions 44; if her deeds triumph, the angels sing a song of praise to her and lead her with joy before the face of God: at that hour she forgets everything belonging to earthly life, and all the labors she has endured”: and again: “when this happened (that is, when the soul reached heaven), the angels who guided us rejoiced: they began to kiss us” 45. As for the souls of sinners, these souls are initially accompanied by angels. But in their subsequent journey they are decisively delayed and then, through violence from demons, are relegated to hell. So, the same Venerable Niphon saw a man, who was a fornicator, a wizard, and a robber, brought down to hell, and finally died without repentance. “If any soul turns out to be living in negligence and debauchery (says St. Cyril of Alexandria), St. the angels leave her, and she is exposed to the power of dark demons.” When both sides for the judged soul are in balance, that is, when the angels present her good deeds for justification, and the evil spirits remember the same number of her sins for condemnation, then God’s love for mankind wins. The same mercy of God makes up for the lack of good deeds against the preponderance of evil ones (see brochure by Archpriest E. Popov: “God’s judgment over a person following his death”). Fred. Pecher. (“Thu. – Min.” Towards May 3) and many more. Dr. In a word about the memory of the departed (in Margar.). “Chet. – Min.”, until December 23. In the life of the same Niphon it is said that demons, seeing protection from St. The judged angels said: “If this soul is worthy of God’s mercy, then take the sinners of the whole world: we have no business working here.” During this same time, the soul appears to worship God up to three times. The first worship occurs on the third day after death. Then, for six days, the soul examines, according to the will of God, the abode of paradise. On the ninth day she rises again to worship God. Then he sees the torment of hell for 30 days. Finally, on the fortieth day he appears again to worship God, and then he receives a certain residence. Revelations of St. Theodora about the ordeals. St. Cyril of Alexandria in his homily on the exodus of the soul. You might be interested in: