What happens to a person after death according to Orthodoxy. Soul after death

As you know, all religions originated from the same source and have much in common; in particular, all religions agree that death is the most important phenomenon and requires deep reflection. Here we look at the six major religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Yoga - in terms of how each answers the questions: why and how a person dies, and what happens after death.

Death is not a problem, but an opportunity

In Christian teaching, death is a change for the better, through it God changes a person’s life. Jesus taught that living with God involves such a radical change that ordinary human relationships simply have no place. Therefore, death was consciously and directly described not as a disaster, but as an opportunity. Jesus said that to lose your life is to save it (Matthew 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; John 12:25).
In Christianity, by and large, it does not matter what kind of death a person died.

Only suicide and murder are prohibited as human intrusion into the affairs of God. In general, any death is an opportunity for resurrection, even death on the cross. The resurrection of Jesus gives reason to hope for the resurrection of the dead in general.

After all, the main message of Christian preachers is the message of the resurrection of Christ.

The cause of man's death lies in his fall, since man, through his disobedience, allowed death into the world. However, death does not represent the disappearance of a person at all, but only a transition to a spiritual state, which is the ultimate goal of earthly life. With death, a person’s moral development stops, any further changes in him are excluded, and moral retribution begins for everything that he has done in his life here in this world. The immortal soul of a person retains its self-awareness even after death, i.e. all personality traits: they remember circumstances, persons, events of their earthly life.
What happens after death? After the soul has left the body, it remains in heaven for six days, and after that it descends to the underworld. Here for forty days she endures ordeals, i.e. a private judgment, distinct from the general Last Judgment taking place at the “end of times.” A person's good and bad deeds are examined in detail, and he is given the opportunity to realize his entire life, and he appears before himself in its true light. Christians believe that if a person has not cleansed his soul through repentance during his lifetime, then torment in the form of ordeals is inevitable. As a result of a private trial, a “sentence” is passed on the soul, and those accused of this or that sin are sent to the corresponding “gloomy abodes.” But the souls of the righteous are ascended by angels to heavenly abodes. And so it continues until the Last Judgment. It should be especially noted that resurrection is a “new creation” of God, since the resurrected soul acquires a new, spiritual body; with death, a limited existence ends and hope is offered for a complete transformation of the spirit.

Parables against reincarnation:

The fate of a person in the afterlife is clearly visible in the example of Christ’s parable about the rich man and Lazarus:

19 A certain man was rich, dressed in purple and fine linen, and feasted magnificently every day.
20 There was also a certain beggar named Lazarus, who lay at his gate covered with sores
21 And he desired to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 The beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And in hell, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom
24 And he cried out and said: 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.
25 But Abraham said: child! remember that you have already received your good in your life, and Lazarus received your evil; now he is comforted here, and you suffer;
26 And besides all this, a great gulf has been established between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, neither can they cross from there to us.
27 Then he said, “I ask you, father, send him to my father’s house,
28 For I have five brothers; let him testify to them, so that they too do not come to this place of torment.
29 Abraham said to him, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them.
30 And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if one comes to them from the dead, they will repent.
31 Then [Abraham] said to him: If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, even if someone were raised from the dead, they would not believe it. OK. 16:20

Christ's teaching on the resurrection is stated in response to the Sadducees' question:

23 That day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him:
24 Teacher! Moses said: If a man dies without having children, let his brother take his wife for himself and restore seed to his brother;
25 We had seven brothers; the first, having married, died and, having no children, left his wife to his brother;
26 likewise the second and the third, even unto the seventh;
27 And last of all the wife also died;
28 So in the resurrection, which of the seven will she be the wife of? for everyone had it.
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God,
30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain as the angels of God in heaven.
31 And regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you:
32 Am I the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. (Matt. 22:23)

If the Sadducees and Christ himself believed in reincarnation, then the very question asked of Christ would have been meaningless. After all, if a woman reincarnates and lives many lives, she inevitably has the same many spouses. For the final fate in the afterlife, the number of spouses during any one life would have no significance. Consequently, both the Sadducees and Christ mean one single afterlife after one single life, but they understand it differently: the Sadducees do not believe in the bodily resurrection, but Christ teaches it.

The Apostle Paul's letter to the Jews says:

24 For Christ did not enter into the sanctuary made with hands, after the image of the true [built], but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us,
25 And not to offer Himself often, as the high priest enters into the sanctuary every year with the blood of others;
26 Otherwise He would have had to suffer many times since the beginning of the world; He once, towards the end of the centuries, appeared to destroy sin through His sacrifice.
27 And just as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
28 So Christ, having once offered Himself as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time not [to cleanse] sin, but to those who wait for Him for salvation. (Heb. 9:24)

The words of the Apostle Paul leave no room in Christian teaching for the reincarnation cycle of death and rebirth. The idea that a person dies exactly once is clearly formulated. Some Theosophists interpret the words "one day to die" as "someday to die." However, such an interpretation conflicts with the full quotation, which quite definitely and intentionally compares the death of a person with the single, and not multiple, death of Christ, and the uniqueness of Christ’s sacrifice is especially noted.

Some materials on postmortem:
My memories of the twilight world.

Modern man can do almost anything, but the mystery of death remains a mystery today. No one can say exactly what awaits after the death of the physical body, what path the soul has to overcome and whether there will be one. Nevertheless, numerous testimonies from survivors of clinical death indicate that life on the other side is real. And religion teaches how to overcome the path to Eternity and find endless joy.

In this article

Where does the soul go after death?

According to church beliefs, the soul will have to go through 20 ordeals - terrible tests of mortal sins. This will make it possible to determine whether the soul is worthy of entering the Kingdom of the Lord, where endless grace and peace await it. These ordeals are terrible, even the Holy Virgin Mary, according to biblical texts, feared them and prayed to her son for permission to avoid posthumous torment.

No newly deceased person will be able to avoid ordeal. But the soul can be helped: for this, loved ones who remain on the mortal earth light candles, fast, etc.

Consistently, the soul falls from one level of ordeal to another, each of which is more terrible and painful than the previous one. Here is their list:

Idle talk is a passion for empty words and excessive talk.
Lying is the deliberate deception of others for the sake of one’s own benefit.
Slander is spreading false rumors about a third party and condemning the actions of others.
Gluttony is an excessive love of food.
Idleness is laziness and a life of inaction.
Theft is the appropriation of someone else's property.
The love of money is excessive attachment to material values.
Covetousness is the desire to obtain valuables through dishonest means.
Untruth in deeds and actions is a desire to commit dishonest actions.
Envy is the desire to take possession of what your neighbor has.
Pride is considering oneself above others.
Anger and rage.
Grudge – storing in the memory of other people’s misdeeds, thirst for revenge.
Murder.
Witchcraft is the use of magic.
Fornication - promiscuous sexual intercourse.
Adultery is cheating on your spouse.
Sodomy – God denies unions of man and man, woman and woman.
Heresy is the denial of our God.
Cruelty is a callous heart, insensitivity to the grief of others.

7 deadly sins

Most ordeals are a standard idea of human virtues prescribed to every righteous person by the law of God. The soul can reach the Paradise only after successfully passing through all the ordeals. If she does not pass at least one test, the etheric body will be stuck at this level and will be forever tormented by Demons.

Where does a person go after death?

The ordeal of the soul comes and lasts as long as the number of sins a person committed during earthly life. Only on the 40th day after death will the final decision be made about where the soul will spend eternity - in Hellfire or in Paradise, near the Lord God.

Every soul can be saved, for God is merciful: repentance will cleanse even the most fallen person from sins, if sincere.

In Paradise, the soul knows no worries, does not experience any desires, earthly passions are no longer known to it: the only emotion is the joy of being near the Lord. In hell, souls are tormented and tormented for an eternity; even after the World Resurrection, their souls, united with the flesh, will continue to suffer.

What happens 9, 40 days and six months after death

After death, everything that happens to the soul is not subject to its will: the newly deceased remains to reconcile and accept the new reality meekly and with dignity. For the first 2 days, the soul stays next to the physical shell, it says goodbye to its native places and loved ones. At this time, she is accompanied by angels and demons - each side is trying to lure the soul to its side.

Angels and demons fight for every soul

On the 3rd day, the ordeal begins; during this period, relatives should pray especially a lot and earnestly. After the end of the ordeal, the angels will take the soul to Paradise - to show the bliss that can await it in eternity. For 6 days the soul forgets about all worries and diligently repents of sins committed known and unknown.

the soul again appears before the face of God. Relatives and friends should pray for the deceased and ask for mercy for him. There is no need for tears and lamentations; only good things are remembered about the newly deceased.

It is best to dine on the 9th day with kutia flavored with honey, symbolizing the sweet life under the Lord God. After the 9th day, the angels will show the soul of the deceased Hell and the torment awaiting those who lived unrighteously.

Pastor V. I. Savchak will tell you about what happens to the soul after death on each day:

On the 40th day, the soul reaches Mount Sinai and appears before the face of the Lord for the third time: it is on this day that the question of... Remembrances and prayers of relatives can smooth out the earthly sins of the deceased.

Six months after the death of the body, the soul will visit its relatives and friends for the penultimate time: they are no longer able to change its fate in eternal life, all that remains is to remember the good things and pray earnestly for eternal peace.

Orthodoxy and death

For an Orthodox believer, life and death are inseparable. Death is perceived calmly and solemnly, as the beginning of the transition to eternity. Christians believe that everyone will be rewarded according to their deeds, therefore they are more concerned not about the number of days lived, but about being filled with good deeds and deeds. After death, the soul awaits the Last Judgment, at which it will be decided whether a person will enter the Kingdom of God or go straight to Hell of Fire for grave sins.

Icon of the Last Judgment in the Church of the Nativity of Christ

The teaching of Christ instructs his followers: do not be afraid of death, for this is not the end. Live in such a way that you will spend eternity before the face of God. This postulate contains enormous power, giving hope for endless life and humility before death.

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A.I. Osipov answers questions about death and the meaning of life:

Soul of a child

Saying goodbye to a child is a huge grief, but you should not grieve unnecessarily; the soul of a child unburdened by sins will go to a better place. Until the age of 14, it is believed that the child does not bear full responsibility for his actions, since he has not yet reached the age of desire. At this time, the child may be physically weak, but his soul is endowed with enormous wisdom: often children, memories of which emerge in fragments in their minds.

No one dies without their own consent– death comes at the moment when a person’s soul calls for it. The death of a child is his own choice, the soul simply decided to return home - to heaven.

Children perceive death differently than adults. After the death of a relative, the child will be perplexed - why is everyone grieving? He doesn't understand why returning to heaven is a bad thing. At the moment of his own death, the child does not feel any grief, no bitterness of parting, no regrets - he often does not even understand that he has given up his life, feeling happy as before.

After death, the child's soul lives in joy in the First Heaven.

The soul is met by a relative who loved him or simply by a bright being who loved children during his lifetime. Here life is as similar as possible to earthly life: he has a home and toys, friends and relatives. Any desire of the soul is fulfilled in the blink of an eye.

Children whose lives were interrupted in the womb - due to abortion, miscarriage or abnormal birth - also do not suffer or suffer. They remain attached to the mother, and she becomes first in line for physical embodiment during the woman’s next pregnancy.

Soul of a Suicidal Man

From time immemorial, suicide has been considered a grave sin - in this way a person violates God’s intention by taking away the life given by the Almighty. Only the Creator has the right to control destinies, and the thought of laying hands on oneself is given to those who tempt and test a person.

Gustave Dore. Suicide Forest

A person who has died a natural death experiences bliss and relief, but for a suicide, the torment is just beginning. One man could not come to terms with the death of his wife and decided to commit suicide in order to reunite with his beloved. However, he was not close at all: they managed to revive the man and ask him about that side of his life. According to him, this is something terrible, the feeling of horror never goes away, the feeling of internal torture is endless.

After death, the soul of a suicide strives for the Gates of Heaven, but they are locked. Then she tries to return to the body again - but this also turns out to be impossible. The soul is in limbo, experiencing terrible torment until the moment when a person was destined to die.

All people who have succeeded from suicide describe terrible pictures. The soul is in an endless fall, which is not possible to interrupt; the tongues of hellish flames tickle the skin and become closer and closer. Most of those rescued are haunted by nightmare visions for the rest of their days. If thoughts about ending your life with your own hands creep into your head, you need to remember: there is always a way out.

The Simplemagic channel will tell you about what happens to the soul of a suicide after death and how to act to calm a restless soul:

Animal souls

Regarding animals, clergy and mediums do not have a clear answer to the question of the final refuge for souls. However, some holy men speak unequivocally about the possibility of introducing the beast to the Kingdom of Heaven. The Apostle Paul directly states that after death an animal awaits deliverance from slavery and earthly suffering; Saint Simeon the New Theologian also adheres to this point of view, saying that, serving in a mortal body, together with a person, the soul of an animal will taste the highest good after physical death.

The souls of animals will find liberation from slavery after physical death.

Theophan the Recluse’s point of view on this is interesting: the saint believed that after death, all souls of living beings (except people) join the great World Soul, created by the Creator long before the creation of the world.

Time to collect stones

Thinking about death and being afraid of it is completely normal. Every person wants to look behind the veil of the eternal mystery of Life and find out what awaits beyond it. Thanatology proves that since the times of the Ancient World, death was prepared in advance, it was thought of as part of life, and this was, perhaps, the greatest wisdom of our ancestors.

Parapsychologists say that after the death of a person, the soul experiences the same feelings as a person during physical death, so it is important to remain calm and confident until the very last breath.

After death, the soul awaits exactly what a person deserves during life: what he will spend on the other side. Years lived with dignity, forgiven offenders, warm relationships with loved ones will help the soul find itself in a better place, where peace, all-consuming love and bliss await it.

Death is an inevitable reality that everyone will face sooner or later. But this is not the end - only the physical shell dies, and the human soul gains true immortality, so there is no need to be sad, it is worth letting go of your loved one with a light heart, dreaming that one day you will be able to meet again - on the other side of life.

A little about the author:

Evgeny Tukubaev The right words and your faith are the keys to success in a perfect ritual. I will provide you with the information, but its implementation directly depends on you. But do not worry, a little practice and you will succeed!

Death in Christianity

In Christianity, awareness of the meaning of life, death and faith in eternal life comes from the Old Testament position: “The day of death is better than the day of birth” and the New Testament commandment of Christ: “I have the keys to hell and heaven.” On the one hand, death is an eternal punishment that each of us is forced to bear for a crime we once committed. But on the other hand, death is the deliverance of a person from the chains of a mortal body, from earthly sorrows that release his indestructible soul. “Let us begin to tremble not before death, but before sin; It was not death that gave birth to sin, but sin that brought forth death, and death became the healing of sin.” The personality becomes immortal - the road to immortality is opened by the atoning sacrifice of Christ through the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection.

Earthly life, full of bitterness and sorrow, is not highly valued in Christianity, but it is precisely this that prepares a person for eternal life. The idea of the immortality of the soul and resurrection fills the existence of a Christian with sublime meaning and gives him the strength to go through unimaginable difficulties and trials, since a person’s short life is just a preparation for existence beyond the grave.

The immortality of the soul became a dogma at the Nicene Temple in 325, when, when the sign of faith was approved, the provision of eternal life was included in it. The ancient Christian Gnostic Church as a whole did not reject the idea of transmigration of souls - at least, it was tolerant of it, but in 553, at the Second Council of Constantinople, it was decided: “He who will defend the legendary doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul and the meaningless prediction that follows from it about her return, that’s anathema.”

Christianity says both that the horror of death is natural and necessary for man, and that “The first known sign that the life of God has begun to act in us will be our will from the feeling of death and its fear. A person living in God experiences a great feeling that he is stronger than death, that he has emerged from its clutches. Even when dying, he will not feel this - on the contrary, he will have a strong feeling of unceasing life in God" (Christian philosopher O. Matta el-Meskin.) "Stop crying about death and cry about your misdeeds in order to correct them and enter Life Eternal. Christian, you are a fighter and constantly stand in the ranks, but a warrior, one who fears death, never accomplishes anything noble.” Archbishop of Tauride and Kherson Innocent notes: “Those who were at the death of the righteous people observed that they did not die, but seemed to fall asleep and leave in peace somewhere from us. On the contrary, the death of sinners is painful. The righteous have hope and faith, the sinners have horror and despair.” In the figurative expression of one of the hierarchs: “A dying person is a setting luminary, the light of which is already shining over another world.”

After death, the spirit leaves the body, without stopping its own existence for a minute. But without a torso. But with thoughts and emotions, with all the virtues and flaws, superiorities and defects that were characteristic of him on earth. “The life of the soul beyond the grave is a normal development and a consequence of its existence on earth,” notes clergyman Anthony of Geneva. “When a person was a truthful Christian during his life (kept the commandments, went to Church, prayed), then the soul will feel the presence of the Almighty and will gain peace. If a person was a great sinner, then his spirit will miss God, he will begin to be gnawed by desires to which his body is accustomed, since it will be impossible to please them, and he will suffer from the approach of evil spirits.”

The soul, having left the body, is able to think, absorb, comprehend, but it is deprived of a shell and therefore does not have the ability to perform actions; it will no longer be able to change something, acquire something that it did not have while in the body. “There is no repentance beyond the grave. The spirit dwells there and progresses in the direction that it began on earth,” writes Anthony of Geneva.

Archimandrite Cyprian notes: “In addition to suffering and the power of hell, something again worries us in death: this is the uncertainty of our life. There will be no break for the soul with the factor of physical death: the soul, as it lived until the last minute of earthly life, will continue to live until the Last Judgment. (...) There is no death in Orthodoxy, for death is only a close boundary between existence here and death in the next century, death is only a temporary separation of soul and body. There is no death for anyone, because Christ has risen for everyone. There is eternity, eternal peace and eternal memory with God and in God.”

After a person dies, his spirit leaves the body. Having become free, the soul acquires a different – spiritual – feeling. She is able to communicate with the world of clear spirits - guardian angels, and dark spirits - demons, and also with other souls. The soul after the physical death of the body is not at complete rest, but continues to progress, and the subsequent formation of the soul, according to the Church, will depend on which direction it will go at the moment of death: towards Light or Darkness. This is why the Church values the sacrament of repentance so highly, especially before death, as a result of which a person, even in the last hours of his life, is able to change a lot, if, of course, the confession was sincere and whole. According to the judgment of the Church, after the death of the body, the spirit is relatively free for another 2 days and remains near the body, and only on the third day, after the burial of the body, does it pass on to another world.

When passing to the afterlife, the soul must meet evil spirits and pass their test. Jesus Christ said before his death: “Now the prince of this world comes, but he has nothing in Me.” In this case, the Church recommends not to succumb to horror, but to rely on the Almighty, not forgetting that the fate of the soul is decided not by evil spirits, but by God. “If we have horror, we will not pass freely past the ruler of this world,” says Archimandrite Seraphim Rose. It turns out that the spirit makes a certain path after the death of the body and goes to the throne of the Last Judgment not the same as it left the body. This period of ascent is necessary, according to the judgment of one of the saints, since “he will not endure the light reigning there.” In the finale, the Last Judgment will be realized: “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His own angels, and here He will reward everyone according to his deeds.” Not all sinners face an identical fate - the unrepentant and great will end up in hell, while the rest have every chance of hoping for God's blessing and eternal life. The Church prescribes that the prayers of the Church, as well as the prayers of family and friends, can help a sinful soul.

According to church doctrine, the souls of many sinners on their way to heaven end up in hell because they did not receive remission of punishment for their misdeeds during their lifetime (they did not perform penance). The time spent in purgatory can be shortened by the prayers of loved ones, as well as by good deeds performed in memory of the deceased. Ideas about purgatory began to take shape in the 1st century AD. e., and the doctrine of purgatory was created in detail in the works of Thomas Aquinas. The provision on purgatory was adopted at the Council of Florence in 1439 and confirmed in 1562 by the Temple of Trent.

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The mystery of death has raised a huge number of questions over the years. Until now, very little facts are known about this natural component of the life cycle. Where is the soul after death? Does heaven or hell exist? Is it possible for the soul to transmigrate to another body after death? Different religions and beliefs have different answers to these questions, and we will look at the most common ones.

Life of the soul after death: what Indian philosophy says

More recently, a huge number of scientists denied the existence of the spirit as matter separate from the body. But numerous studies have proven that such a substance exists; for example, it was found that after death the body becomes 15-35 grams lighter. However, what happens to the soul after death remains a mystery.

It is known that people who have experienced clinical death tell an identical story about a long dark tunnel and a bright light at its end. These stories echo the Indian version, according to which the soul leaves the body after death through the following channels:

Mouth - in this case, she will then return to Earth again for reincarnation or painful wanderings.
The nostrils, and then the liberated spirit goes to heaven towards the Sun or Moon.
The navel is the further refuge of the spiritual substance – the cosmos.
Genitals, but in this case the spirit is transported to dark gloomy worlds and dimensions.

It is this transition that everyone who experiences clinical death sees. The tunnels are the channels through which the liberated spirit leaves the deceased body, and the bright light is the future worlds to which the human soul goes after death.

How the soul lives after death: the opinion of Orthodoxy

Every Orthodox person knows that death is not the end of life, but only a transition to the divine world. In Orthodoxy, the soul does not disappear after death, but is sent to God’s judgment, after which it goes to heaven or hell, where it awaits the Second Coming.

According to Orthodox canons, the soul of the deceased is in the process of preparation for the Judgment for up to 40 days:

From the first to the third day, she, accompanied by a guardian angel, travels the earth, visiting her native places and relatives. On the third day she appears before God for the first time.
From the third to the ninth day, the spirit remains in the heavenly villages, where it observes all divine grace and forgets the seal about earthly life. On the ninth day, he again appears before God and goes to witness the horrors of hell.
From the ninth to the fortieth day, the spiritual substance remains in hell, where it goes through twenty rounds of ordeal. All this time she is accompanied by angels, and the purpose of these tests is to test her passions and commitment to unrighteous, devilish thoughts.

After 40 days, the soul is sent to God's Judgment, where it will be told where it will continue to stay - heavenly villages or hell. She can no longer influence this choice, since the decision is based on the journey of life and the funeral prayers of her relatives. If a person commits suicide, then the soul cannot leave the earth after death, since the heavenly gates are closed to it. She will continue to wander the earth in torment until the day of death provided for by the Creator.

Where is the soul after death: the theory of transmigration

Another common theory about the path of the soul after death is reincarnation or transmigration. According to this belief, after death the spirit simply moves into a new shell - the body, and begins a new life cycle. Thus, the spiritual substance is given another chance to improve its karma and complete the circle of reincarnation by going to Eternity.

Doctor of Psychiatry Ian Stevenson has conducted a huge amount of research on how the soul lives after death. Most of them concerned the theory of reincarnation, which he considered absolutely real. For example, during research, a person was found with a congenital strange growth in the back of the head. During hypnosis, he remembered that in a past life he was killed with a blow to the back of the head. Jan began an investigation, and based on the data obtained in hypnosis, he found a person who died in exactly this way - the shape of the wound was identical to the growth.

According to Stevenson's theory, the following factors indicate reincarnation:

The ability to speak a foreign, and often ancient, language appears. In medical practice, there have been many cases where young children could speak languages that their parents did not know.
The presence of moles, nevi, unknown neoplasms in the same places in a living and deceased person.
Accurate historical facts that a living person could not know about.

Details about past migrations can be revealed through hypnosis and trance. As practice has shown, approximately 35-40% of people at such sessions talked about strange events, spoke ancient or simply other languages. Memories of past lives also come to people who have experienced clinical death.

What does the soul do after death? Perhaps one day there will be an exact scientific answer to this philosophical question. Today, one can be content with only religious and pseudo-scientific theories. Whether they should be taken at face value is up to each person to decide for himself.

The afterlife and its uncertainty is what most often leads a person to think about God and the Church. After all, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church and any other Christian doctrines, the human soul is immortal and, unlike the body, it exists forever.

A person is always interested in the question of what will happen to him after death, where will he go? The answers to these questions can be found in the teachings of the Church.

The soul, after the death of the bodily shell, awaits the Judgment of God

Death and the Christian

Death always remains a kind of constant companion of a person: loved ones, celebrities, relatives die, and all these losses make me think about what will happen when this guest comes to me? The attitude towards the end largely determines the course of human life - waiting for it is painful or a person has lived such a life that at any moment he is ready to appear before the Creator.

Read about the afterlife in Orthodoxy:

Trying not to think about it, erasing it from your thoughts, is the wrong approach, because then life ceases to have value.

Christians believe that God gave man an eternal soul, as opposed to a corruptible body. And this determines the course of the entire Christian life - after all, the soul does not disappear, which means it will definitely see the Creator and give an answer for every deed. This constantly keeps the believer on his toes, preventing him from living his days thoughtlessly. Death in Christianity is a certain point of transition from worldly to heavenly life, and where the spirit goes after this crossroads directly depends on the quality of life on earth.

Orthodox asceticism has in its writings the expression “mortal memory” - constantly holding in thoughts the concept of the end of worldly existence and the expectation of the transition to eternity. That is why Christians lead meaningful lives, not allowing themselves to waste minutes.

The approach of death from this point of view is not something terrible, but a completely logical and expected action, joyful. As Elder Joseph of Vatopedi said: “I’ve been waiting for the train, but it still doesn’t come.”

The first days after leaving

Orthodoxy has a special concept about the first days in the afterlife. This is not a strict article of faith, but the position held by the Synod.

Death in Christianity is a certain point of transition from worldly to heavenly life

Special days after death are:

Third- This is traditionally a day of commemoration. This time is spiritually connected with the Resurrection of Christ, which occurred on the third day. St. Isidore Pelusiot writes that the process of Christ’s Resurrection took 3 days, hence the idea that the human spirit also passes into eternal life on the third day. Other authors write that the number 3 has a special meaning, it is called God’s number and it symbolizes faith in the Holy Trinity, therefore a person should be remembered on this day. It is in the requiem service of the third day that the Triune God is asked to forgive the deceased’s sins and forgive him;
Ninth- another day of remembrance of the dead. St. Simeon of Thessalonica wrote about this day as a time to remember the 9 angelic ranks, to which the spirit of the deceased can be ranked. This is exactly how many days are given to the soul of the deceased to fully understand its transition. This is mentioned by St. Paisius in his writings, comparing a sinner with a drunkard who becomes sober during this period. During this period, the soul comes to terms with its transition and says goodbye to worldly life;
Fortieth- This is a special day of remembrance, because according to the legends of St. Thessalonica, this number is of particular importance, because Christ was ascended on the 40th day, which means that the deceased on this day appears before the Lord. Also, the people of Israel mourned their leader Moses at such a time. On this day, not only should there be a prayer asking for mercy from God for the deceased, but also the magpie.

Important! The first month, which includes these three days, is extremely important for loved ones - they come to terms with the loss and begin to learn to live without a loved one.

The above three dates are necessary for special remembrance and prayer for the departed. During this period, their fervent prayers for the deceased reach the Lord and, in accordance with the teachings of the Church, can influence the final decision of the Creator regarding the soul.

Where does the human spirit go after life?

Where exactly does the spirit of the deceased reside? No one has an exact answer to this question, since this is a secret hidden from man by God. Everyone will know the answer to this question after their repose. The only thing that is known for sure is the transition of the human spirit from one state to another - from the worldly body to the eternal spirit.

Only the Lord can determine the eternal place of the soul

Here it is much more important to find out not “where”, but “to whom”, because it doesn’t matter where a person will be after, what’s most important is with the Lord?

Christians believe that after the transition to eternity, the Lord calls a person to judgment, where he determines his place of eternal residence - heaven with angels and other believers, or hell, with sinners and demons.

The teaching of the Orthodox Church says that only the Lord can determine the eternal place of the soul and no one can influence His sovereign will. This decision is a response to the life of the soul in the body and its actions. What did she choose during her life: good or evil, repentance or proud exaltation, mercy or cruelty? Only a person’s actions determine eternal existence and the Lord judges by them.

From the book of the Revelation of John Chrysostom, we can conclude that the human race faces two judgments - individual for each soul, and general, when all the dead are resurrected after the end of the world. Orthodox theologians are convinced that in the period between an individual trial and a general one, the soul has the opportunity to change its verdict, through the prayers of its loved ones, good deeds that are done in its memory, memories in the Divine Liturgy and commemoration with alms.

ordeals

The Orthodox Church believes that the spirit goes through certain ordeals or tests on the way to the throne of God. The traditions of the holy fathers say that ordeals consist of conviction by evil spirits that make one doubt one’s own salvation, the Lord or His Sacrifice.

The word ordeal comes from the Old Russian “mytnya” - a place for collecting fines. That is, the spirit must pay some fine or be tested by certain sins. The deceased person’s own virtues, which he acquired while on earth, can help him pass this test.

From a spiritual point of view, this is not a tribute to the Lord, but a complete awareness and recognition of everything that tormented a person during his life and with which he was not able to fully cope. Only hope in Christ and His mercy can help the soul overcome this line.

Orthodox lives of saints contain many descriptions of ordeals. Their stories are extremely vivid and written in sufficient detail so that you can vividly imagine all the pictures described.

Icon of the Ordeal of Blessed Theodora

A particularly detailed description can be found in St. Basil the New, in his life, which contains the story of Blessed Theodora about her ordeals. She mentions 20 trials of sins, including:

a word - it can heal or kill, it is the beginning of the world, according to the Gospel of John. The sins that are contained in the word are not empty statements; they have the same sin as material, committed actions. There is no difference between cheating on your husband or saying it out loud while dreaming - the sin is the same. Such sins include rudeness, obscenity, idle talk, incitement, blasphemy;
lie or deception - any untruth spoken by a person is a sin. This also includes perjury and perjury, which are serious sins, as well as dishonest trial and falsehood;
gluttony is not only the pleasure of one’s belly, but also any indulgence of carnal passion: drunkenness, nicotine addiction or drug addiction;
laziness, together with hack work and parasitism;
theft - any act the consequence of which is the appropriation of someone else's property, this includes: theft, fraud, fraud, etc.;
stinginess is not only greed, but also thoughtless acquisition of everything, i.e. hoarding. This category includes bribery, refusal of alms, as well as extortion and extortion;
envy - visual theft and greed for someone else's;
pride and anger - they destroy the soul;
murder - both verbal and material, incitement to suicide and abortion;
fortune telling - turning to grandmothers or psychics is a sin, it is written in Scripture;
fornication is any lustful actions: viewing pornography, masturbation, erotic fantasies, etc.;
adultery and the sins of Sodom.

Important! For the Lord there is no concept of death; the spirit only passes from the material world to the immaterial. But how she will appear before the Creator depends only on her actions and decisions in the world.

Memorial Days

This includes not only the first three important days (the third, ninth and fortieth), but any holidays and simple days when loved ones remember the deceased and remember him.

Read about prayer for the dead:

The word “commemoration” means remembrance, i.e. memory. And first of all, this is prayer, and not just a thought or bitterness from separation from the dead.

Advice! Prayer is performed in order to ask the Creator for mercy for the deceased and to justify him, even if he did not deserve it himself. According to the canons of the Orthodox Church, the Lord can change His decision about the deceased if his loved ones actively pray and ask for him, doing alms and good deeds in his memory.

It is especially important to do this in the first month and the 40th day, when the soul appears before God. Throughout the entire 40 days, the magpie is read, with prayer every day, and on special days a funeral service is ordered. Along with prayer, loved ones visit church and cemetery these days, give alms and distribute funeral food in memory of the deceased. Such memorial dates include subsequent anniversaries of death, as well as special church holidays commemorating the dead.

The Holy Fathers also write that the actions and good deeds of the living can also cause a change in God's verdict on the deceased. The afterlife is full of secrets and mysteries; no one alive knows exactly anything about it. But everyone’s worldly path is an indicator that can indicate the place in which a person’s spirit will spend all eternity.

What are ordeals? Archpriest Vladimir Golovin