What happens to the soul after death?

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

What happens to a person's soul after death? This question is one of the main ones, forcing a person to turn to the teachings of the Orthodox Church and in it look for an answer that excites him so much. Despite the fact that there are no strict dogmas regarding the posthumous path to God, there is a tradition among believers of a special commemoration of the dead on the third, ninth and fortieth days. This position is not recognized by the Church as a doctrinal norm, but at the same time it is not disputed. What is it based on?

On the threshold of eternity

Understanding the meaning of life by each individual and what he fills it with depends largely on his attitude to his future death. The following aspect is extremely important: does he wait for its approach, believing that a new stage of existence awaits the soul after death, or is he afraid, perceiving the end of earthly existence as the threshold of eternal darkness into which he is destined to plunge?

According to the teaching given to people by Jesus Christ, bodily death does not lead to the complete disappearance of a person as a person. Having passed the stage of his temporary earthlyexistence, he acquires eternal life, the preparation for which is the true purpose of his sojourn in the mortal world. Thus, earthly death becomes for a person the day of his birth in Eternity and the beginning of the ascent to the throne of the Most High. How exactly this path will turn out for him and what the meeting with the Heavenly Father will bring him depends entirely on how he spent his earthly days.

In this regard, it is appropriate to note that the Orthodox teaching contains such a concept as “memory of death”, which involves a person’s constant awareness of the brevity of his earthly existence and the expectation of a transition to the other world. For a true Christian, it is precisely this state of mind that determines all actions and thoughts. Not the accumulation of the riches of the perishable world, which he will inevitably lose after his death, but the fulfillment of God's commandments, which open the gates to the kingdom of heaven, is the meaning of his life.

Third day after death

Starting a conversation about what happens to the soul after death, and considering the main stages following the death of a person, let us dwell first of all on the third day, on which, as a rule, a funeral takes place and a special commemoration of the deceased is performed. Such a countdown has a deep meaning, since it is spiritually connected with the three-day resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ and symbolizes the victory of life over death.

In addition, the third day includes the personification of the faith of the deceased and his family in the Holy Trinity, as well as their recognition of the three gospel virtues - faith, hope andlove. And finally, three days are established as the first stage of a person's stay beyond the limits of his earthly existence, because all his deeds, words and thoughts during life were determined by three inner abilities, including reason, feelings and will. It is not for nothing that during the requiem service performed on this day, a prayer is offered for the remission of the deceased for the sins committed by “word, deed and thought.”

There is another explanation for the reason why the third day was chosen for a special commemoration of the deceased. According to the revelation of St. Macarius of Alexandria, a heavenly angel, telling him about what happens to the soul after death, told that during the first three days it invisibly resides in places associated with its earthly life. Often the soul is found near the native home or where the body left by it is located. Wandering like a bird that has lost its nest, she experiences incredible suffering, and only a church commemoration, accompanied by the reading of the prayers set for this occasion, brings her relief.

Ninth day after death

No less important stage for the human soul after death is the ninth day. According to the same angelic revelation, set forth in the writings of Macarius of Alexandria, after a three-day stay in places associated with earthly life, the soul is ascended by angels to heaven to worship the Lord, and after that, for six days, it contemplates the holy abodes of paradise.

When she sees the blessings that have become the lot of the righteous in the Kingdom of God, she glorifies the creator and forgets about the sorrows that befell her in the earthly vale. But inat the same time, what is seen prompts the soul to deeply and sincerely repent of the sins it has committed on a thorny and full of temptations in life. She begins to reproach herself, lamenting bitterly: “Alas, I am a sinner and did not care about my salvation!”

After staying in the Kingdom of God for six days, filled with the contemplation of heavenly bliss, the soul again ascends to worship at the foot of the throne of the Most High. Here she pays praise to the creator of the world and prepares for the next stage of her posthumous wanderings. On this day, which is the ninth day after the death, relatives and friends of the deceased order a funeral service in the church, after which they all gather together for a memorial meal. A characteristic feature of the prayers offered on this day is the petition contained in them that the soul of the deceased be worthy to be numbered with one of the nine orders of angels.

The sacred meaning of the number 40

From time immemorial, weeping for the deceased and prayers for the repose of his soul continued for forty days. Why was this time frame set? The answer to this question can be found in the Holy Scripture, opening which, it is easy to see that the number forty is often found on its pages and contains a certain sacred meaning.

For example, in the Old Testament you can read that, having delivered his people from Egyptian slavery and heading to the Promised Land, the prophet Moses led him through the desert for forty years, and during the same period the sons of Israel ate manna from heaven. For forty days and nightsthe leader fasted before accepting the law established by God on Mount Sinai, and the prophet Elijah spent the same period on the journey to Mount Horeb.

In the New Testament, the pages of the Holy Gospel say that Jesus Christ, having been baptized in the waters of the Jordan River, went to the desert, where he spent forty days and nights in fasting and prayer, and after resurrection from the dead for forty days remained among his disciples before he ascended to his heavenly father. Thus, the belief that the soul, up to 40 days after death, goes through a special path, destined by the creator, is based on the biblical tradition, originating from the Old Testament times.

Forty days in hell

The ancient Jewish custom of mourning the dead for forty days after their death was legitimized by the closest disciples and followers of Jesus Christ - the holy apostles, after which he became one of the traditions of the Church he founded. Since then, it has become customary to say a special prayer every day during this entire period, called the "forty-mouthed", to which on the last day - "magpies" - an unusually fertile power is attributed.

Just as Jesus Christ, after forty days filled with fasting and prayers, defeated the devil, so the Church founded by him, performing during the same period of service for the deceased, doing alms and bringing bloodless sacrifices, asks him for grace at the Lord God. This is what allows the soul after death to resist the onslaught of the airy prince of darkness and inherit the kingdom of heaven.

It is very revealing thathow Macarius of Alexandria describes the state of the soul of the deceased after the second worship of the Creator. According to the revelation he received from the mouth of an angel, the Lord commands his incorporeal servants to cast her into the abyss of hell and there show all the innumerable torments that sinners undergo who did not bring due repentance during the days of earthly life. In these gloomy depths, filled with wailing and weeping, the wanderer, having lost her body, remains for thirty days and constantly trembles from the fact that she herself may be among these unfortunate ones, doomed to eternal suffering.

At the Throne of the Great Judge

But let's leave the realm of eternal darkness and follow further what happens to the soul. 40 days after death ends with a major event that determines the nature of the posthumous existence of the deceased. There comes a moment when the soul, having mourned its earthly refuge for three days, then having been honored with a nine-day stay in paradise and forty days of seclusion in the depths of hell, is ascended by angels for the third time to worship the Lord. Thus, the soul after death and until the 40th day is on the road, and then a “private judgment” awaits it. This term is used to denote the most important stage of posthumous existence, in which, in accordance with earthly affairs, its fate will be determined for the entire remaining period, until the second coming of Christ to earth.

The Lord makes his decision about where the soul is destined to stay after death in anticipation of the terrible judgment based on its lifetime state and disposition. The decisive role is played by the preferences given to it duringstay in a mortal body. In other words, the decision of the judge depends on what the person to whom it belonged chose - light or darkness, virtue or sin. According to the teachings of the Fathers of the Orthodox Church, hell and paradise are not specific places, but only express the state of the soul, depending on whether it was open to God during the days of earthly life, or resisted him. Thus, a person himself determines the path along which his soul is destined to aspire after death.

The Last Judgment

Having mentioned the Last Judgment, it is necessary to make certain explanations and give a clearer idea of this most important Christian dogma. According to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, formulated at the Second Council of Nicaea in 381 and called the Nicene-Tsaregrad Creed, the moment will come when the Lord will call the living and the dead to judgment. On this day, all the dead from the day of the creation of the world will rise from the graves and, having risen, will again find their flesh.

The New Testament says that the son of God Jesus Christ will judge on the day of his second coming into the world. Sitting on the throne, he will send angels to gather "from the four winds", that is, from all sides of the world, the righteous and sinners, those who followed his commandments, and those who did iniquity. Each of those who appear at the judgment of God will receive a well-deserved reward for their deeds. The pure in heart will go to the kingdom of heaven, and the unrepentant sinners will go to "eternal fire." Not a single human soul escapes God's judgment after death.

To help the Lord will be his closest disciples - the saintsthe apostles, about whom the New Testament says that they will sit on thrones and begin to judge the 12 tribes of Israel. The "Epistle of the Apostle Paul" even says that not only the apostles, but all the saints will be given the power to judge the world.

What is "air ordeal"?

However, the question of where the soul goes after death can be decided long before the Last Judgment. According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, on the way to the throne of God, she will have to go through air ordeals, or, in other words, obstacles erected by the messengers of the prince of darkness. Let's dwell on them in more detail.

In the Holy Tradition there is a story about the aerial ordeals that Saint Theodora, who lived in the X century and became famous for her selfless service to God, endured. After her death, she appeared in a night vision to one of the righteous and told about where the soul goes after death and what it undergoes on its way.

According to her, on the way to the throne of God, the soul is accompanied by two angels, one of which is its guardian, given in holy baptism. In order to safely reach the kingdom of God, it is necessary to overcome 20 obstacles (ordeals) erected by demons, where the soul after death is subjected to severe tests. On each of them, the messengers of Satan present a list of her sins belonging to one specific category: gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, etc. In response, the angels unroll a scroll in which the good deeds performed by the soul during life are inscribed. A kind of balance is being struck and, depending on what outweighs - good deeds orevil, it is determined where the soul after death should go - to the Throne of God or straight to hell.

God's mercy to fallen sinners

The revelation of St. Theodora says that the all-merciful Lord does not remain indifferent to the fate of even the most hardened sinners. In those cases when the guardian angel does not find a sufficient number of good deeds in his scroll, he fills the gap with his will and enables the soul to continue its ascent. In addition, in some cases, the Lord can generally save the soul from such a difficult test.

The request for this mercy is contained in a number of Orthodox prayers addressed directly to the Lord or to his saints who intercede for us before his throne. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the prayer to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker contained in the final part of the akathist dedicated to him. It contains a petition that the saint intercede before the Almighty for the deliverance of us after death "from air ordeals and eternal torment." And there are many such examples in the Orthodox Prayer Book.

Memorial Days

At the end of the article, let us dwell in more detail on when and how, according to the Orthodox tradition, it is customary to commemorate the deceased, since this is an extremely important issue that is directly related to the topic we have touched on. Commemorations or, more simply, commemorations include, first of all, a prayerful appeal to the Lord God with a request to forgive the deceased for all hissins committed in the days of earthly life. It is extremely necessary to do this, because, having stepped beyond the threshold of eternity, a person loses the opportunity to repent, and during his life he could not always and not always ask for forgiveness for himself.

After 3, 9 and 40 days after death, the human soul especially needs our prayer support, because at these stages of its afterlife it appears before the throne of the Almighty. In addition, every time on the way to his heavenly chamber, the soul will have to overcome the ordeals that were mentioned above, and in the days of these difficult trials, more than ever, it will need the help of those who, remaining in the mortal world, keep the memory of it.

It is for this purpose that special prayers are read at funeral services, united by the common name "magpie". In addition, these days, relatives and friends of the deceased visit his grave, and after that they have a joint memorial meal at home or in a specially rented hall of a restaurant or cafe. It is equally important to repeat the entire prescribed order of commemoration on the first, and then on all subsequent death anniversaries. However, as the holy fathers of the Church teach us, the best way to help the soul of the deceased is the true Christian life of his relatives and friends, their observance of the commandments of Christ and all possible assistance to those in need.