Body and soul are one, however, the body is mortal, but the soul is not. When a person dies, his soul has to go through ordeals - a kind of exams. We'll tell you what these tests are and how long they last.

Those who have faced terrible grief - the death of a loved one, are probably interested in what happens next to the human soul, what path does it take and why are 40 days considered important? We will tell you about what trials the human soul faces, how long they last and how its final fate will be decided.

Living our earthly life, our body is one with our soul, however, when a person dies, his soul is separated. At the same time, this soul does not forget all the passions and habits, good and bad deeds, character and attachments that were formed over the years. And after death she has to answer for all her actions and actions.

40 days after death are the hardest for the human soul. In Orthodoxy, this day is considered almost as tragic as the day of death itself. All this time the soul remains in the dark about what fate is in store for it. In 40 days, she is destined to go through many tests and fully account for her life.

If six days before this the soul was in heaven, looking at the blessed life and the righteous, then then it follows an “excursion” to hell. There begins the most difficult and responsible part for the human soul - the ordeal. It is believed that there are twenty of them - and this is not the number of sins, but the number of passions, which include many varieties of vices. For example, there is the sin of theft. However, it manifests itself in different ways: someone directly steals other people’s money right from their pockets, someone slightly corrects accounting papers, someone takes bribes. It’s the same with all other ordeals. Twenty passions are twenty exams for the human soul.

Walking through hell lasts until the fortieth day. This is a much longer walk than a journey through paradise, which is not surprising, because a person is much more susceptible to such weaknesses as hatred, anger, envy, guile and pride than to virtues. Therefore, you have to answer for your vices much longer.

It is also interesting that during earthly life a person has the opportunity to repent for his sins and receive forgiveness - he just needs to confess from a pure heart. There is no such possibility in the afterlife. Moreover, if during confession a person can hide some of his vices, then here he is deprived of this right: the person appears as he really is, with his goals, aspirations and secrets.

Of course, the soul does not remain defenseless before strict judges. The guardian angel who accompanies a person from birth acts as an advocate for the soul. He will be ready to find a good deed for any sin. The main thing is to have something to look for. In order to avoid the torment of hell, a person must live his life as close as possible to monasticism. This is extremely difficult in modern world, full of temptations, however, if during your life you are faithful to God, do good deeds, be pure in soul and heart, and take communion, then passing every prepared test will be much easier.

Soul after 40 days last time descends to the ground and goes around places that are especially important to her. Many people who lost loved ones admitted that in their dreams they saw the deceased on that day saying goodbye to them, saying that he was leaving forever. Many people also claimed that after 40 days of death they ceased to feel the presence of the deceased nearby: they no longer heard steps and sighs, they could no longer smell the person.

What happens next when 40 days have passed? On the fortieth day, the soul again goes to God, this time for judgment. Only the Lord will not judge a person, he will not condemn or reproach him for his vices. Man is his own judge. Therefore, it is believed that, once in front of the Holy Face, the soul will either unite with this light or fall into the abyss. And this decision is made not by willpower, but by the spiritual state that was the result human life.

The soul waits 40 days for its fate to be decided, however, according to the church, this is not the last judgment. There will be another, the Last Judgment, final. It is believed that the fates of many souls can change on it.

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I cannot correlate two things: after the soul leaves the body after death, it rushes around the earth for 2 days, and on the third day the angels lift it up to worship God. And when does the soul go through ordeals? Where can you read more about ordeals: what are they, how many are there? As I understand it, in the link you sent me (where we're talking about about the experience of the warrior Taxiot), not all ordeals are listed.

Priest Afanasy Gumerov answers:

According to St. John (Maximovich), the great ascetic of our time, the soul goes through ordeals on the third day after leaving the body: “At this time (on the third day) the soul passes through legions of evil spirits who block its path and accuse it of various sins, which they themselves drew her into. According to various revelations, there are twenty such obstacles, the so-called “ordeals,” at each of which one or another sin is tortured; Having gone through one ordeal, the soul comes to the next. And only after successfully passing through all of them can the soul continue its journey without being immediately thrown into Gehenna. How terrible these demons and ordeals are can be seen from the fact that the Mother of God Herself, when Archangel Gabriel informed Her of the approach of death, prayed to His Son to deliver Her soul from these demons, and in response to Her prayers the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared from heaven accept the soul of His Most Pure Mother and take Her to heaven. (This is visibly depicted on the traditional Orthodox icon Dormition.) The third day is truly terrible for the soul of the deceased, and for this reason it especially needs prayers.

Descriptions of ordeals in patristic and hagiographical texts correspond to the model of torture to which the soul is subjected after death, but individual experiences may vary significantly. Minor details such as the number of ordeals are, of course, secondary in comparison with the main fact that soon after death the soul is indeed subjected to a trial (private trial), where the result of the “invisible war” that it waged (or did not wage) on earth against fallen spirits is summed up . The Orthodox Church considers the doctrine of ordeals so important that it mentions them in many services. In particular, the Church especially expounds this teaching to all its dying children. In the “Canon for the Exodus of the Soul,” read by a priest at the bedside of a dying member of the Church, there are the following troparia: “Aerial prince, rapist, tormentor, maintainer of terrible paths and vain tester of these words, grant me permission to pass without restraint, leaving the earth”(canto 4). " Holy Angels commend me to the sacred and honorable hands, O Lady, for having covered myself with those wings, I do not see the dishonest and stench-naked and gloomy image of demons."(canto 6). “Having given birth to the Lord Almighty, cast away the bitter ordeals of the ruler of the world far from me, I want to die forever, but I glorify You forever, Holy Mother of God.” (canto 8). So dying Orthodox Christian is being prepared in the words of the Church for the upcoming trials.”(St. John. Life after death, - In the book: Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose), Hegumen German (Podmoshensky). Blessed Saint John, Miracle Worker, M., 2003, pp. 793 -95).

The disciple of St. writes in most detail about the ordeals. John of San Francisco, Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) in the book “The Soul after Death. Modern "posthumous" experiences in the light of the teachings of the Orthodox Church." There are many publications.

When the sacrament of death is performed and the soul is separated from the body, it (the soul) remains on earth for the first days and, accompanied by angels, visits those places in which it used to create truth. She wanders around the house in which she was separated from her body, and sometimes stays near the coffin in which her body rests.

On the third day, every Christian soul is supposed to ascend to heaven to worship God.

On the third day, the body is consigned to the earth, and the soul must ascend to heaven: “and the dust will return to the earth, as it was, and the spirit will return to God, who gave it.”

If the soul has not known itself, has not fully realized itself here on earth, then, as a spiritual and moral being, it must, of necessity, realize itself beyond the grave; to realize what she had developed in herself, what she had adapted to, what sphere she was accustomed to, what constituted food and contentment for her. To become aware of oneself and thus carry out judgment on oneself before God’s judgment - this is what heavenly justice wants.

God did not want and does not want death, but man himself desired it. Here on earth, with the help of holy communion, the soul can come to consciousness, bring true repentance and receive remission of sins from God.

But behind the coffin, in order to bring the soul to the consciousness of its sinfulness, there are fallen spirits who, being the mentors of all evil on earth, will now present the soul with its sinful activity, recalling all the circumstances under which evil was committed. The soul realizes its sins. By this she already warns God’s judgment over her; so that the judgment of God, as it were, already determines what the soul itself has pronounced over itself.

Through repentance, sins committed are destroyed and are no longer mentioned anywhere, neither at the ordeal, nor at the trial.

Good angels at ordeals, for their part, represent the good deeds of the soul.

The entire space from earth to heaven represents twenty divisions or judgment seats, at which the coming soul is convicted by demons of sins.

ordeals- this is the inevitable path by which all human souls, both evil and good, make their transition from temporary earthly life to an eternal lot.

During the ordeals, the soul, in the presence of angels and demons, but also before the Eye of the All-Seeing God, is gradually and thoroughly tested in all deeds, words and thoughts.

Good souls, justified in all ordeals, are ascended by angels to the heavenly abodes for the beginning of eternal bliss, and sinful souls, detained at one or another ordeal, by the verdict of an invisible court, are drawn by demons to their dark abodes for the beginning of eternal torment.

Thus, ordeals are a private judgment that is carried out invisibly by the Lord himself through his angels over each human soul, including the evil tax collectors who accuse demons.

On the way to heaven, directed to the east, the soul encounters its first ordeal , on which evil spirits, having stopped the soul, accompanied by good angels, present her with her sins.

Questions in the ordeal begin with what we call “small” sins, universal to mankind (idle talk), and the further they go, the more important they concern sins and end in the 20th ordeal with unmercifulness and harshness towards one’s neighbor - the most serious sins, for which, according to According to the word of God, there is “judgment without mercy” for those who have not shown mercy.

The first ordeal - WORD:(untruths, verbosity, idle talk, idle talk, vanity, slander, foul language, jokes, obscenity, vulgarity, distortion of words, simplifications, grandiosity, absurdities, ridicule, laughter, laughter, name-calling, singing passionate songs, rumors, grumpiness, tongue-tiedness, vileness, incitement, blasphemy, desecration of people and the name of God, taking things in vain, rudeness.)

The second ordeal is a lie (flattery, sycophancy, pleasing with cunning, meanness, cowardice, antics, vanity, isolation, imagination, artistry, perjury, perjury, concealing sins in confession, secrecy, breaking the promise given in confession not to repeat sins, deceit.)

The third ordeal - slander (insults, condemnation, distortion of the truth, sneaking, complaints, abuse, mockery, contributing to the sins of others, impudence, cynicism, moral pressure, threats, mistrust, doubts.)

The fourth ordeal is gluttony (binge eating, heavy drinking, smoking, secret eating, breaking fasts, feasting, drunkenness, drug addiction, substance abuse, etc., gluttony.)

The fifth ordeal is laziness (negligence, inattention, oblivion, oversleeping, idleness, despondency, carelessness, cowardice, weakness of will, idleness, forgetfulness, carelessness, hackwork, parasitism, unnecessaryness, coldness and lukewarmness towards the spiritual, carelessness about prayer, carelessness about salvation, insensibility.)

The sixth ordeal is theft (embezzlement, theft, division, adventures, scams, complicity, use of stolen goods, fraud, misappropriation in the form of seizure, sacrilege.)

The seventh ordeal is love of money and stinginess. (self-interest, search for profit, over-concern, acquisitiveness, greed, stinginess, hoarding, lent money at interest, speculation, bribes.)

Eighth ordeal - interest (extortion, robbery, robbery, deceit, tricks, failure to repay debts, scams, fraud.)

The ninth ordeal is not true. (deception, falsehood, bribery, unjust trial, dishonor, extravagance, suspicion, concealment, complicity.)

The tenth ordeal is envy. (in material goods, in spiritual virtues, partiality, desire for someone else’s.)

Eleventh ordeal - pride (conceit, self-will, self-aggrandizement, exaltation, vanity, arrogance, hypocrisy, self-adoration, disobedience, non-compliance, disobedience, contempt, shamelessness, dishonesty, blasphemy, ignorance, insolence, self-justification, stubbornness, unrepentance, arrogance.)

The twelfth ordeal is rage and anger. (grudge, gloating, revenge, vindictiveness, sabotage, bullying, tricks, slander.)

The thirteenth ordeal is vindictiveness. (intransigence, hot temper, hatred, rage, blows, kicks, insolence, embitterment, despair, quarrels, squabbles, hysterics, scandal, treachery, mercilessness, rudeness, resentment.)

The fourteenth ordeal is murder. (thought, word, deed), fights, use of all kinds of instruments or drugs for murder, abortion (or complicity).

Fifteenth ordeal - magic (fortune telling, divination, astrology, horoscopes, fashion seduction, healing (extrasensory perception) hiding behind the name of God, levitation, witchcraft, witchcraft, sorcery, shamanism, witchcraft.)

Sixteenth ordeal - FORMARITY:(carnal cohabitation outside of church marriage, voluptuous views, dishonest thoughts, dreams, fantasies, raptures, pleasures, permission to sin, desecration of chastity, nightly desecrations, pornography, watching depraved films and programs, masturbation.)

The seventeenth ordeal - adultery (adultery and also seduction, violence, fall, violation of the vow of celibacy.)

Eighteenth ordeal - fornication of Sodom (perversion of nature, self-satisfaction, self-torture, violence, kidnapping, incest, corruption of minors (direct and indirect).

The Nineteenth Ordeal – Heresy (unbelief, superstition, distortions and distortions of the truth, distortions of Orthodoxy, doubts, apostasy, violation of church decrees, participation in heretical gatherings: Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientology, the Mother of God Center, Ivanova, Roerich, as well as in other atheistic associations and structures.)

The twentieth ordeal - no mercy (unmercy,insensibility, ruthlessness, persecution of the weak, cruelty, petrification, callousness, did not care about children, the elderly, the sick, did not give alms, did not sacrifice themselves and their time for the sake of others, inhumanity, heartlessness.)

The ordeal takes place on the third day after death. After worshiping God, it is commanded to show the soul the various abodes of saints and the beauty of paradise. Walking and viewing the heavenly abodes lasts six days. The soul is surprised and glorifies the Creator of everything - God. Contemplating all this, she changes and forgets the sorrow she had while in the body. But if she is guilty of sins, then at the sight of the pleasures of the saints she begins to grieve and reproach herself for having spent her life in carelessness, disobedience and not serving God as she should.

After exploring paradise, shower on the ninth day (from his separation from the body) again ascends to worship God. And how well the Church does that it brings offerings and prayers on the ninth day for the deceased. Knowing the afterlife state of the deceased soul, corresponding to the ninth day on earth, on which the second worship of God takes place, the Church and relatives pray to the Almighty to number the departed soul among the nine faces of angels.

After the second worship, the Master commands to show the soul hell with all its torments. The guided soul sees the torment of sinners everywhere, hears crying, groaning, gnashing of teeth. For thirty days the soul walks through the hellish sections, trembling, so as not to be condemned there to imprisonment.

Finally, on the fortieth day after separation from the body, the soul ascends for the third time to worship God. And only now does the Righteous Judge determine for her a place to stay appropriate for her affairs in earthly life. This means that an honest trial of the soul takes place on the fortieth day after its departure from the body.

The Holy Church commemorates the dead on the fortieth day. The fortieth day, or sorochina, is the day of determining the fate of the soul in afterlife. This is a private court of Christ, determining the fate of the soul only until the time of the terrible general judgment. This is an afterlife state of mind corresponding to moral life on earth, not final and subject to change.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the fortieth day from His resurrection, exalted the human nature assumed by Him into His Person, into a state of glory - sitting on the throne of His Divinity (“at the right hand of the Father”); So, according to this prototype, those who died on the fortieth day after death enter with their souls a certain state corresponding to their moral dignity.

Just as the Lord, having completed the work of our salvation, crowned it with His life and death with His ascension on the fortieth day, so the soul of the deceased, completing its life path, on the fortieth day after death receives reward - his afterlife lot.

What do hell and heaven look like?

The majority of people believe that hell, the underworld, hell and fiery Gehenna are one place. Actually this is not true.

Hell- the place where the unclean live, and the earth is the place of their work. They have an artificial sun that does not provide heat, but only light. The air temperature in hell is constant throughout the year - from 0 to +4 °C.

Each type of unclean lives separately from another type. Hell can be compared to a nine-story building. Only the number of floors in it starts from top to bottom. The lower the unclean ones live, the more noble they are.

The key to hell is about four meters long and is made of an alloy of very rare metals and human blood.

On the eighth floor of hell there is inferno. It is called ashes because human souls are baked there, but not burned. The baking area was about 1200 square kilometers. The boilers contain resin and maintain temperatures between 240 and 300 °C. Cauldrons come in different capacities: for several hundred human souls or for just a few souls.

On Sundays, as well as on the days of the twelve annual church Orthodox holidays boilers are not heated. In addition, boilers are not heated the week before Easter and on Easter. These days sinful souls rest. There are currently just over five billion human souls in hell.

Below hell - in the abyss - is fiery Gehenna.

The underworld is a place where only the devil lives.

Heaven consists of seven heavens.

To the first sky the majority of people fall.

On the second- much less. Moreover, from the first to the second sky you won’t even get to visit, but from the second you can.

In the third heaven many saints. In heaven there is happiness, brotherhood, but there is no equality: as you serve God, such grace will come to you.

In the fourth and fifth heavens there are cherubim, seraphim, angels, dominions.

On the sixth - the Mother of God, A The Lord Himself is in the seventh heaven.

The Ordeal of Blessed Theodora.

Blessed Theodora's story about the ordeal.

At Rev. Vasily was a novice of Theodore, whoserved him; Having accepted the monastic rank, she departed to the Lord.

One of the saint’s disciples, Gregory, received a desirefind out where Theodora is after his death,did she receive mercy and joy from the Lord for her service?to the holy elder. Often thinking about this, Gregory asked the elder answer him, what happened to Theodora, for he firmly believed that the saintGod knows all this. Not wanting to upset your spiritualson, rev. Vasily prayed that the Lord would reveal his fateBlessed Theodora.

And then Gregory saw her in a dream - in a bright monastery,full of heavenly glory and

indescribable blessings that wasprepared by God Rev. Vasily and in which she was installedTheodore through his prayers. Seeing her, Gregory was delighted andasked her how her soul was separated from her body, what she saw whenits death, how it went

air ordeals. On thoseTheodora answered his questions like this:

"Child Gregory, oh terrible thing you asked, terribleremember him. I saw faces that I had never seen, andI heard words that I had never heard. What can I sayyou? I had to see and hear terrible and terrible things for my deeds, but with the help and through the prayers of our father Reverend VasilyEverything was easy for me.How can I convey to you, child, that bodily torment, that fear andthe confusion that the dying must experience! Like fireburns the one thrown into it and turns it into ashes, so is the torment of deathin the last hour destroys a person. Death is truly terriblesinners like me!

So, when the hour came for the separation of my soul from my body, II saw around my bed a lot of Ethiopians, black as sootor resin, with eyes burning like coals. They made a fuss andscream: some roared like cattle and animals, others barked like dogs,
some howled like wolves, and others grunted like pigs.

All of them, looking they raged at me, threatened me, gnashed their teeth,as if wanting to eat me; they prepared charters that includedAll my bad deeds are written down. Then my poor soul came totrembling; it was as if mortal pain did not exist for me:the menacing vision of the terrible Ethiopians was different for me, moreterrible death. I turned my eyes away so as not to see themterrible faces, but they were everywhere and their voices came from everywhere.

When I was completely exhausted, I saw those approaching me inthe image of beautiful young men of two Angels of God; their faces werelight, the eyes looked with love, the hair on the head was lightlike snow and glittered like gold; the clothes were like lightlightning, and on the chest they were belted crosswise with gold belts.

Approaching my bed, they stood next to me withright side, talking quietly to each other. Seeing them Irejoiced; the black Ethiopians trembled and moved away;one of the bright young men addressed them with the following words:
"O shameless, damned, gloomy and evil enemies sort ofhuman! Why are you always in a hurry to come to the bedside of the dying,making noise, you frighten and confuse every soul,separated from the body? But don't be too happy, you're nothing hereyou will not find, for God is merciful to her and you have no part or share in this soul."

Having heard this, the Ethiopians rushed about, raising a strongshouting and saying: “How do we not have a part in this soul? And these are sinswhose, - they said, pointing to the scrolls where everything was written down
my bad deeds - didn’t she do this and that?” And sayingthis, they stood and waited for my death.

Finally she came anddeath itself, roaring like a lion and very terrible in appearance; shelooked like a person, but only had no body andwas made up of nothing but bare human bones. With herthere were various instruments for torture: swords, spears, arrows,scythes, saws, axes and other tools unknown to me.

My poor soul trembled when I saw this. Holy AngelsThey said to death: why are you delaying, free this soul from the body,free her quietly and quickly, because she does not have many sins behind her.

Obeying this order, death approached me and took the smallocord and first of all cut off my legs, then my arms, thengradually, with other instruments, she cut off my other members, separatingcomposition after composition, and my whole body became dead. Then, takingadze, she cut off my head, and it became for me, as it were,someone else's, because I couldn't turn it around. After this death didthere was some kind of drink in the cup and, bringing it to my lips, she forcibly gave me a drinkme. This drink was so bitter that my soul could not bear itendure - she shuddered and jumped out of the body, as if by forcetorn from him. Then the bright Angels took her into their arms.

I turned back and saw my body lying soulless,insensible and motionless, just as if someone takes offclothes and, throwing them away, looks at them - that’s how I looked ather body, from which she had freed herself, and was very surprised at this.

The demons, who were in the form of Ethiopians, surrounded the saints who were holding meAngels and shouted, showing my sins: “This soul hasmany sins, let him give us an answer for them!”

But the saints The angels began to look for my good deeds and, by the grace of God,found and collected everything that was done with the help of the Lordgood by me: did I ever give alms or feedgave drink to the hungry or thirsty, or clothed the naked, or ledstranger to his home and calmed him, or served the saints, orvisited a sick person in prison and helped him, orwhen she went to church with zeal and prayed with tenderness andtears, or when I listened with attention to the church reading and
singing, or brought incense and candles to church, or did somesome other offering, or poured wooden oil intolamps in front of the holy icons and kissed them with reverence,or when I fasted during all holy fasts on Wednesday and FridayI didn’t eat food, or how many times I bowed and prayedat night, or when she turned to God with all her soul and cried fortheir sins, or when with full heartfelt repentanceconfessed her sins to God before her spiritual father andtried to make amends for them good deeds, or when for a neighbordid something good, or when she wasn’t angry athostile to me, or when she suffered some kind of insult andabuse and did not remember them and was not angry for them, or when she repaidgood for evil, or when she humbled herself or lamented over someone else’strouble, or she herself was sick and endured it without complaint, or she became illother sick people, and consoled someone who was crying, or gave someone a handhelp, or helped in a good deed, or kept someone frombad, or when I did not pay attention to vain affairs, orrefrained from vain oaths or slander and idle talk, andall my other smallest affairs were collected by the holy Angels, preparingput against my sins.

The Ethiopians, seeing this, gnashedteeth, because they wanted to kidnap me from the Angels and take me tothe bottom of hell. At this time, the reverend father unexpectedly appeared thereour Basil and said to the holy angels: “My Lord, this soulserved me a lot, calming my old age, and I prayed to God, and He gave it to me."

Having said this, he took out a gold coin from his bosom.a bag, all full, as I thought, of pure gold, and gave it awayHoly Angels, saying: "When you pass through the airordeals and evil spirits will begin to torture this soul,redeem her with this from her debts; I am rich by the grace of God,because I have collected many treasures for myself with my labors, and I givethis bag of the soul that served me." Having said this, he disappeared.

The crafty demons, seeing this, were in bewilderment and, raisingmournful cries also disappeared. Then the saint of God Vasilycame again and brought many vessels with pure oil, dearworld and, opening each vessel one by one, poured everything ontome, and a fragrance spread from me.

Then I realized thatchanged and became especially bright. The saint again turned toTo the angels with the following words: “My Lord, when do youdo everything that is necessary for this soul, take it tothe house prepared for me by the Lord God and place her there."
Having said this, he became invisible, and the holy angels took me,and we went through the air to the east, rising to the sky.

ORDERAL 1st

When we ascended from the earth to the heights of heaven, firstwe were greeted by the airy spirits of the first ordeal, at whichthe sins of idle talk are experienced. This is where we stopped.
They brought us many scrolls, where all the words were written,what I have only said since my youth, everything that has been saidthoughtless and, all the more, shameful. They were recorded right thereall the blasphemous deeds of my youth, as well as cases of idlelaughter, to which youth is so prone. I saw the bad ones right therewords I've ever spoken, shameless worldly songs,and the spirits convicted me, indicating the place and time and persons with whomI was engaged in idle conversations and with my words angeringGod, and did not at all consider it a sin, and therefore did notI confessed this to my spiritual father. Looking at thesescrolls, I was silent as if speechless, because I
there was nothing to answer them: everything that they had written down wasTruth. And I was surprised how they hadn’t forgotten anything, becauseSo many years have passed and I myself have long forgotten about it. Details andthey tested me in the most skillful way, and little by little II remembered everything. But the holy angels who led me put an end tomy test at the first ordeal: they covered my sins,pointing out to the evil one some of my former good deeds, and whythere wasn’t enough of them to cover my sins, they addedvirtues of my father Reverend Vasily and redeemed me fromthe first ordeal, and we moved on.

ORDERAL 2nd

We have approached another ordeal calledordeal of lies. Here a person gives account for everythinglying word, but mainly for perjury, forcalling on the name of the Lord in vain, for false testimonies,for failure to fulfill the vows given to God, for insincere confession insins and everything like that, when a person resorts to lies.

The spirits in this ordeal are fierce and cruel and especially strongexperience those going through this ordeal. When they stoppedus, then they started asking me with all the details, and I wascaught having lied twice about the smallest things
things, so that I did not put it in my sin, and also in the fact thatonce, out of shame, I didn’t tell the whole truth in confessionspiritual father. Having caught me in a lie, the spirits came into greatjoy and already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels, but they, forcovering the sins found, pointed to my good deeds, andwhat was missing was replenished with the good deeds of my reverend fatherVasily was redeemed from this ordeal, and wewent higher without hindrance.

ORDERAL 3rd

The ordeal we came to later is calledordeal of condemnation and slander. Here when they stoppedus, I saw how gravely the one who condemns his own sins
neighbor, and how much evil there is when one slanderes another,dishonors him, scolds him when he swears and laughs at strangerssins, not paying attention to their own. Terrible spiritstest sinners in this for the fact that they anticipate the dignityChrist and become judges and destroyers of their neighbors whenhow they themselves are immeasurably more worthy of condemnation. In this ordealI, by the grace of God, did not turn out to be sinful in many ways, becausethat all her life she was careful not to let anyonecondemn, do not slander anyone, did not mock anyone,did not scold anyone; sometimes just by listening to how others judgedneighbors, slandered them or laughed at them, in my thoughtspartly agreed with them and, through negligence, to their speechesadded a little of her own, but, having come to her senses, that hourheld. But even this the spirits who tested me gave mesin, and only through the merits of St. Basil the Holy Angels
freed me from this ordeal, and we went higher.

ORDERAL 4th

Continuing our journey, we reached a new ordeal, whichcalled the ordeal of gluttony. Towards usbad spirits ran out, rejoicing that a new victim was coming to them.
The appearance of these spirits was ugly: they representedvarious types of voluptuous gluttons and vile drunkards;They carried dishes and bowls with food and various drinks. Food and drink bythey were also vile in appearance, like stinking pus and vomit.
The spirits of this ordeal seemed sated and drunk, theyjumped around with music in their hands and did everything they usually dofeasting, and cursed at the souls of sinners they brought to ordeal.

These spirits, like dogs, surrounded us, stopped us andbegan to show all my sins of this kind: did I eat secretly?someday, either through force and beyond necessity, or in the morning, aspig, without prayer and sign of the cross, or on holy fastsate before the time appointed by the church charter, or according tointemperance ate before lunch, or during lunchI was overly satiated. They also calculated my drunkenness, showing
cups and vessels from which I drank, and directly said:you drank so many cups at such and such a time, and at such and sucha feast, with such and such people; and drank somewhere elseso many times she reached unconsciousness and vomiting, and so many timesfeasted and danced to the music, clapping her hands, sang songs andjumped and, when they brought you home, was exhausted from immensedrunkenness; the wicked spirits also showed me the cups from which II drank sometimes in the morning and at fast days for the sake of the guests for the sake of the guests orwhen, out of weakness, she drank to the point of intoxication and did not consider it a sin andshe did not repent, but on the contrary, she also seduced others.
They also pointed out to me when on Sundays it happened to medrink before the Holy Liturgy, and many similar things were indicatedthey rejoiced at me because of my sins of gluttony, already countingme in their power, and intended to take me to the bottom of hell; I
but seeing himself exposed and having nothing to say against them, trembled.

But the holy Angels, borrowing from the treasurySt. Basil's good deeds covered my sins andremoved from the power of those evil spirits.

Seeing this, they raised a cry:"Woe to us! Our labors are lost! Our hope is gone!" Andthey began to fly packages through the air where my sins were written;I was glad, and then we went from there without any hindrance.

During the journey to the next ordeal, the holy Angels led each otherconversation. They said: “Truly great help does this soul receive fromsaint of God Vasily: if his prayers had not helped her, greatShe would have to experience the need, going through the ordeals of the air."

So the Angels accompanying me said, and I took the courageask them: “My Lord, it seems to me that no one living on earthdoes not know what happens here, and what awaits the sinful soul after death?

The Holy Angels answered me: “Are the divine scriptures readalways in churches and preached by the servants of God, little is said aboutthis! Only those addicted to earthly vanity do not pay attention to thisattention, finding a special charm in eating up tosatiation and drunkenness, thus making the belly his god, notthinking about the future life and forgetting the words of Scripture: Woe to you, saturatedNow, because you will hunger, and those who are drunk, because you will thirst. They consider it sacredScripture is fables and they live in neglect of their souls, feasting with songs andmusic and every day, like the evangelical rich man, having a bright time. Butthose who are merciful and merciful do good to the poor and needy -these receive forgiveness of their sins from God and for their alms without
ordeals undergo special torture, according to the word of Scripture: alms fromHe delivers through death and forgives all sin. Those who give alms andlives are filled with truth, and for those who do not try to cleanse with almstheir sins, these trials cannot be avoided, and the dark-shaped princesthe ordeals you saw, kidnap them and, cruelly torturing them, take them tothe bottom of hell and are kept there in bonds until the Last Judgment of Christ. And to you tooit would have been impossible to avoid this if not for the treasury of good deedsSt. Basil, from which your sins were covered."

ORDERAL 5th

Conversing in this way, we reached the ordeal calledthe ordeal of laziness, in which a person gives an answer for everythingdays and hours spent in idleness. Here they linger andparasites who feed on the labors of others and do not want anything themselvesdo, or charge for work not completed.

Ibid. they ask for an account from those who do not care about the glory of the nameGod and are lazy on holidays and Sundays to go toDivine Liturgy and other services of God. Right hereone experiences negligence and despondency, laziness and carelessness about one’s
the soul of both worldly and spiritual people, and many from hereare led into the abyss. I was tested a lot here and, ifnot the virtues of St. Basil, which made up for the lackmy good deeds, then I would not be freed from my debt to the evil oneto the spirits of this ordeal for my sins; but they covered everything and Iwas removed from there.

ORDERAL 6th

The next ordeal is theft. We were there for a short timedetained, and a few good deeds were required to cover mysins, because I did not commit theft, except one, verysmall, in childhood due to misunderstanding.

ORDERAL 7th

After the ordeal of theft, we came to the ordeallove of money and stinginess. But we also passed this ordeal.safely, because I, by the grace of God, did not care
during my earthly life there was no question of acquiring propertyloving money, but satisfied with what the Lord sent me, I was notand stingy, and what she had, she diligently gave to those in need.

ORDERAL 8th

Ascending higher, we have reached the ordeal calledordeal of extortion, where those who give in interest are testedtheir money and thereby receiving unjust gains.
Here those who appropriate for themselves what belongs to others give an account. Craftythe spirits of this ordeal thoroughly searched me, and not findingno sin with me, they gnashed their teeth; we gave thanksGod, let's go higher.

ORDERAL 9th

We have reached the ordeal called the ordealunrighteousness, where all the unrighteous judges whoconduct their trial for money, acquit the guilty, condemninnocent; here those who do not pay due wages are torturedmercenaries or when trading uses the wrong measure, and sosimilar. But we, by the grace of God, passed unhinderedthis is an ordeal, covering my sins with only a few good deeds of this kind.

ORDERAL 10th

We also successfully passed the next ordeal,called the ordeal of envy. I didn't have it at allsins of this kind, because I have never been jealous. And although
Other sins were also experienced here: dislike, brotherly hatred,enmity, hatred, but, by the mercy of God, in all these sinsI turned out to be innocent and saw how furiously they gnashed their teethdemons, but I was not afraid of them, and, rejoicing, we went higher.

ORDERAL 11th

In a similar way we went through the ordeal of pride,where arrogant and proud spirits test those who are vain,thinks a lot about himself and boasts; especially carefully heretest the souls of those who are disrespectful to father and mother, and alsoto the authorities appointed by God: cases are considereddisobedience to them, and other acts of pride, and vainglorious words.I needed very, very few good deeds to coversins in this ordeal, and I received freedom.

ORDERAL 12th

The new ordeal that we later achieved wasthe ordeal of anger and rage; but even here, despite the factthat the spirits torturing here are fierce, they received little from us,and we continued on our way, thanking God for covering mysins through the prayers of my father Reverend Vasily.

ORDERAL 13th

After the ordeal of anger and rage, we were presented withordeal, in which those who are in the heart are mercilessly torturedin his own way harbors evil against his neighbor and repays evil forevil. From here the spirits of evil with particular fury bring down soulssinners to Tartarus. But God’s mercy did not abandon me here either:I never had any grudge against anyone, I didn’t remember what was done to me
evil, but, on the contrary, she forgave my enemies and, as far as she was instrength, revealed her love for them, thus winningevil is good. Therefore, I did not turn out to be sinful in any wayordeal, the demons wept that I was freely leaving their cruel hands;We continued on our way in joy.

On the way, I asked the holy Angels who led me: “My Lord,please tell me how these terrible air authorities know everythingthe evil deeds of all the people who live in the world, just like mine, andnot only reveal what was created, but also which only the one who created them knows?”
The Holy Angels answered me: “Every Christian from the most holyreceives baptism from God's Guardian Angel, who invisiblyprotects a person throughout his life, even until the hour of death,instructs in all goodness and all these good deeds that a personcreates during his earthly life, writes down so that he can receivefor them there is mercy from the Lord and eternal reward in the Kingdom of Heaven. Soand the prince of darkness, who wants to destroy the human race, putsto every person one of the evil spirits who always walks afterover a person and observes all his evil deeds from his youth, encouraging themhis machinations, and collects everything that a person has done that is bad. Then he
takes all these sins to the ordeal, recording each one in the appropriate place.

Hence, the princes of the air know all the sins of all people, whichthey just live in peace. When the soul is separated from the body and strives to ascendto heaven to her Creator, then the evil spirits hinder her,showing lists of her sins; and if the soul has more good deeds thansins, then they cannot hold her; when will her sins be revealed?
more than good deeds, then they hold her for a while, imprison herprison of God's ignorance and torment them, as far as the power of God allows them, untiluntil the soul, through the prayers of the Church and relatives, receives freedom. Ifwhat kind of soul will turn out to be so sinful and unworthy before God thatall hope for her salvation is lost and she faces eternal death, thenshe is brought down into the abyss, where she remains until the second comingThe Lord, when eternal torment in fiery hell begins for her.

Know also that in this way only the souls of those whoenlightened by holy baptism. Those who do not believe in Christ, idolaters andgenerally everyone is ignorant true God they don’t ascend this way, becausethat during earthly life they are alive only in body, but are already buried in soulhell. And when they die, the demons, without any testing, take their souls andbrought down to hell and the abyss."

ORDERAL 14th

While I was talking in this way with the holy Angels, weentered into an ordeal called the ordeal of murder.
Here it is not only robbery that is being tortured, but they are also demandingaccount for any punishment inflicted on anyone, for any blow toshoulders or on the head, on the cheek or on the neck, or when someone withpushes his neighbor away from him with anger. Evil spirits are all thistested here in detail and weighed; we got through thisordeal without hindrance, leaving a small part of good deeds forcovering my sins.

TOLLSHIP 15th

We also went through the next ordeal without any hindrance, wheretortured by spirits for sorcery, witchcraft, charm,whispering, calling demons. The spirits of this ordealtheir appearance resembles four-legged reptiles, scorpions, snakes andtoads; in a word, it’s scary and disgusting to look at them. ByGod's grace, the spirits of this ordeal did not find anyone similar sin, and we moved on; perfume withthey shouted after me with rage: “Let's see how you leave the prodigalplaces when you get there!"

When we began to ascend higher, I asked the Angels who were leading me:
“My Lord, do all Christians go through these ordeals and are there noWho can pass here without torture and fear?

Holy Angels They answered me: “For the souls of believers ascending to heaven, there is no other way- everyone goes here, but not everyone experiences such ordeals asyou, and only sinners like you, that is, those who, out of shame, do notThey sincerely revealed to their spiritual father all their sins in confession. IfBut whoever sincerely repents of all sins, then sins are by the mercy of God,are invisibly smoothed over, and when such a soul passes here, the airthe torturers open their books and find nothing written downher; then they can no longer frighten her, cause her anythingunpleasant, and the soul ascends in joy to the throne of grace. And you,if I repented of everything before my spiritual father and received from himpermission, would have avoided the horrors of going through ordeals; but it helpsAnother thing for you is that you stopped committing mortal sins a long time ago and have alreadyyears you lead a virtuous life, but mainly they help youprayers of Saint Basil, whom you served diligently on earth."

TOLLSHIP 16th

During this conversation we reached the ordeal calledprodigal, where a person is tortured for all kinds of fornication andfor any unclean passionate thoughts, for consent to sin, forbad touches and passionate touches. Prince of thisthe ordeal sat on the throne dressed in stinking, nasty clothes,sprinkled with bloody foam and replacing him with royal scarlet;many demons stood before him. When they saw me they were surprisedthat I had reached their ordeal, and they brought out the scrolls that containedmy prodigal deeds were written down, they began to count them, pointing outpersons with whom I sinned in my youth, and the time when I sinned,those. day or night, and the place where she committed the sin. I'm nothingcould answer them and stood there, trembling with shame and fear.

The Saints The angels who were leading me began to say to the demons: “She has long beenleft a prodigal life and spent all this time in purity and abstinence."

The demons answered: “And we know that she stoppedlead a prodigal life, but she did not reveal it to her spiritual father and did notbore penance from him in order to atone for previous sins, - thereforeshe is ours, and you either leave or redeem her with good deeds.”

The Holy Angels pointed out many of my good deeds, and even morethe good deeds of St. Basil covered my sins, and I barelygot rid of severe trouble. We moved on.

TOLLSHIP 17th

The next ordeal was the ordeal of adultery,where the sins of those living in marriage are tortured: if anyone does notmaintained marital fidelity, desecrated his bed - heremust give a report. Those who are sinners are also tortured here.abduction for fornication, in violence.

Here people are testedwho dedicated themselves to God and took a vow of chastity, but notthose who kept their vow and fell into fornication; torture of these especiallymenacing. During this ordeal I turned out to be a lot of sinners, Icaught in adultery, and evil spirits already wanted to kidnap mefrom the hands of Angels and take him to the bottom of hell. But there are many holy angels
argued with them and barely redeemed me, abandoning all good deedsmine are here to the last and adding quite a lot from the treasuryVenerable Vasily. And taking me from them, they went further.

TOLLSHIP 18th

After this we reached the ordeal of Sodom, wheresins that disagree with either male or female are torturednature, as well as copulation with demons and dumbanimals, and incest, and other secret sins of this kind, ohwhich it is a shame to even remember.

The prince of this ordeal, the worstof all the demons surrounding him, he was completely covered with stinking pus;its ugliness is difficult to describe. They were all burning with rage; hastilyran out to meet us and surrounded us. But by graceGod, they didn’t find me guilty of anything and therefore with shameran back; We, rejoicing, emerged from this ordeal.

After this, the holy Angels said to me: “You saw, Theodora,terrible and nasty prodigal ordeals. Know that a rare soul passesthem without detention, because the whole world lies in the evil of temptations anddefilement and all people are voluptuous and prone to fornication. A person from an early agein his youth he is inclined towards these matters, and is unlikely to preserve himself from uncleanness;those who mortify their carnal lusts a little and therefore pass freelythrough these ordeals; the majority die here; fierce torturersThey kidnap the souls of fornicators and, torturing them terribly, take them to hell. But you,Theodora, thank God that through the prayers of Saint Basil I passed through theseprodigal ordeals, and you will no longer encounter delays.”

TOLLSHIP 19th

After the ordeal of the prodigal we came to the ordealheresies, where people are tortured for wrong opinions aboutobjects of faith, as well as for apostasy from the Orthodox faith,distrust of true teaching, doubts in faith, blasphemy, etc.similar. I went through this ordeal without stopping, and we were alreadynot far from the gates of heaven.

ORDERAL 20th

But before we reached the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, wemet the evil spirits of the last ordeal, which is calledthe ordeal of unmercifulness and cruelty. TorturersThis ordeal is especially cruel, especially their prince. By appearancein his own way he is dry, sad and in a rage he suffocates with merciless fire. INin this ordeal souls are tested without any mercyunmerciful. And if anyone turns out to have accomplished many feats,who strictly observed fasts, were vigilant in prayer, who preservedpurity of heart and mortifying self-control, but wasunmerciful, unmerciful, deaf to the pleas of his neighbor - hefrom this ordeal is brought down to the bottom, lies in the hellish abyssand never receives forgiveness. But we, through the prayers of the monkVasily, who helped me everywhere with his good deeds, and thisthe ordeal passed unhindered.

This ended a series of aerial ordeals, and we are happyapproached the gates of heaven. These gates were as bright ascrystal, and all around you could see a radiance that was impossibledescribe; Sun-shaped youths shone in them, and when they saw me,
led by Angels to the heavenly gates, were filled with joy becausethat I, covered by the mercy of God, passed through all the airordeal. They kindly greeted us and led us inside.

What I saw there and what I heard, Gregory - it’s impossibledescribe! I was brought to the Throne of impregnable gloryGod, who was surrounded by Cherubim, Seraphim and manythe heavenly troops praising God with unspeakable songs; I
fell on her face and bowed to the invisible and inaccessible to the mindhuman Divinity. Then the heavenly powers sang the sweeta song praising the mercy of God, which cannot be exhaustedsins of people, and a voice was heard commanding those who led me
Angels, so that they would take me to see the abodes of saints, and alsoall the torments of sinners and then calmed me down in the monastery prepared forfor Blessed Basil. By this order I was taken everywhere, andI saw villages and monasteries filled with glory and grace,
prepared for those who love God. Those leading me showed meseparately and the monastery of the Apostles, and the monastery of the Prophets, and the monasteryMartyrs, and Holy Monasteries, and special monasteries foreach order of saints. Each monastery was distinguished by its extraordinarybeauty, and in length and width I could compare each one withConstantinople, if only they weren’t even better and didn’t havemany bright, not made by hand rooms. All exesthere, seeing me, they rejoiced at my salvation, met andThey kissed me, glorifying God, who delivered me from the evil one.

When we walked around these abodes, I was brought down to the underworld,and there I saw the unbearable terrible torment that was in store forhell for sinners. Showing them, the Angels who led me,they told me: “You see, Theodora, from what torment, through prayers
Saint Basil, the Lord has delivered you." I heard screams there andcrying and bitter sobs; some moaned, others angrilythey exclaimed: alas for us! There were also those who cursed the daytheir birth, but there was no one who would take pity on them.

After graduating inspection of the places of torment, Angels took me out of there and brought me tomonastery of St. Basil, telling me: “Now the Rev.Vasily commemorates you." Then I realized that I had cometo this place of rest forty days after my separation from bodies."

Blessed Theodora recounted all this to Gregory in a sleepyvision and showed him the beauty of that monastery and spiritualriches that are gained through arduous deedsSt. Basil; also showed Gregory Theodore andpleasure, and glory, and various golden-leafed and abundantfruits of the gardens, and in general all the spiritual joy of the righteous.

Tests take place between earth and heaven, where the spirits of evil in the heavens operate (see Eph. 6:12), - on the border of the material and spiritual worlds. The soul leaving the body sees terrible, black demonic images (Murins, or Ethiopians); passing through them, accompanied by Angels, she is detained in certain places in the airspace and interrogated regarding individual sins. To torture souls passing through the airspace, the dark authorities have established separate courts and guards in a certain order. Along the layers of heaven, from the earth to the sky itself, there are guard regiments of fallen spirits. Each department is in charge of a special type of sin and torments the soul in it when the soul reaches this department. The aerial demonic guards and judgment seats are called ordeals in the patristic writings, and the spirits serving in them are called tax collectors.

In the time of Christ, the collector of state duties was also called a publican. Publicans allowed themselves all means of violence, various kinds of tricks, nagging, countless abuses and inhuman robbery. The name publicans spread from people to the demons who guard the sunrise from earth to heaven, due to the similarity of the office and its performance. They resort to fabrications and deceptions, combining slander with shamelessness and arrogance, in order to snatch the soul from the hands of angels and multiply with it countless prisoners of hell. Demons provide a list of sins related to a given ordeal, and Angels provide good deeds committed by the soul during life. If the good deeds outweigh the bad, the soul passes to the next test. If the number of evil deeds exceeds good ones and the Angels have nothing to present to justify the soul, demons take the soul to hell. The mercy of God sometimes makes up for the lack of good deeds against the preponderance of evil ones. The list of good deeds is kept by the Guardian Angel, which is given to every person at baptism; the list of sins is kept by a demon sent by Satan to every soul in order to contribute to the fall. The soul of a person who has sinned but repented of this sin is not tortured for this sin at the ordeal. At ordeals, the soul is accused of unforgiven, forgotten sins, actions the sinfulness of which a person did not know. The souls of people who were distinguished by special holiness, accepted martyrdom, repentant sinners who have received the special mercy of God - their souls go to heaven unhindered.

The doctrine of posthumous ordeals of the soul is contained in ancient Church Tradition and in church prayers conditions, in the works of church writers - Saints John Chrysostom, Ephraim the Syrian, Macarius the Great, Cyril of Alexandria, etc. The most famous story about posthumous ordeals is the vision of the disciple of Basil the New, St. Gregory, about the ordeals of St. Theodora, described in the life of St. Basil.

The Church proclaims and reminds us of the doctrine of ordeals in order to plant soul-saving fear in our hearts and prepare us for a successful transition from temporary life to eternal life.

The Orthodox Church considers the doctrine of ordeals so important that it mentions them in many services. In particular, in the “Canon for the Exodus of the Soul,” read by a priest at the bedside of a dying member of the Church, there is the following troparion: “The prince of the air, the rapist, the tormentor, the fearful path of the upholder, and the vain examiner of these words, vouchsafe me to cross without restraint from the earth.” (song 4).

THE ORDERAL OF BLESSED THEODORA

Venerable Basil the New (X century) in his youth he left the world and labored in the desert, endured torment for Christ's faith, but remained among them unharmed. He was perspicacious and healed the sick through prayer. Among those who visited the saint was Gregory, who became his student and subsequently wrote a detailed life of his teacher. When Saint Theodora, who served St. Basil, died, Gregory really wanted to know about her afterlife and often asked the holy ascetic to reveal this to him. Through the prayers of Blessed Gregory, he saw in a dream the old woman Theodora, who told him how her soul went through ordeals after death and how the power of the prayers of Blessed Basil helped her.

Saint Theodora was helped through the ordeal by Saint Basil the New, who gave the holy Angels a bag of gold coins - the treasures of his prayers to God - to pay off demons, since Saint Theodora looked after him in his old age.

After passing through all the ordeals, on the third day after the separation of the soul from the body, the soul of Saint Theodora appeared and bowed before the Throne of God of impregnable glory, surrounded by Seraphim, Cherubim and countless Hosts of Heaven. After this, Saint Theodora was shown the heavenly abodes of the holy apostles, prophets, martyrs and saints for 6 days. Then, on the 9th day after death, the soul was brought a second time to worship God. After this, for thirty-one days the soul walked through hell, where it was shown the terrible torment of sinners. On the fortieth day, the holy Angels led Saint Theodora to the monastery of her venerable father Vasily in paradise, where she, like everyone who has gone through ordeals and a private trial, must remain until the day of the Last Judgment, which will be at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gregory, in a dream vision, was honored to see blessed Theodora in the bright monastery, which was prepared by God for the Monk Basil. In this monastery, illuminated by heavenly glory and filled with ineffable blessings, blessed Theodora, through the prayers of the saint of God, was installed. Thus, to whom she diligently and hardworkingly served in this world, in his monastery she was honored to live in eternal life, through his holy prayers. Seeing her, Gregory rejoiced and enjoyed a long conversation with her, as if he were talking to her in reality.

Gregory asked Theodora how she was separated from her body, how she endured mortal suffering, what she saw after her death, and how she passed through the air spirits.

She began to tell him the following: “Child Gregory! You are asking me about a terrible thing, which is terrible even to remember. I saw faces that I had never seen before or since, I heard sayings that I had never heard before. And What will I tell you? Then all the cruel and sinful things of my deeds appeared before me, which I had forgotten, but, with the prayers and help of our father, St. Basil, all this was not imputed to me and did not keep me from entering this monastery And what will I tell you, child, about bodily illness, about the most severe suffering that the dying endure? Just as if someone is thrown into a strong flame, burning, it seems to melt away and turn into ashes, so mortal illness destroys a person. Death is truly cruel for sinners like me, for I tell you the truth that I too was a doer of sinful deeds, but I do not remember my righteous deeds at all.

When I approached the end of my life and the hour of separation of my soul from my body had come, I saw many Ethiopians standing around my bed; their faces were black as soot and tar, their eyes burned like coals of fire, and their whole appearance was as terrible as the sight of fiery Gehenna. And they began to make noise and confusion: some roared like cattle and beasts, others barked like dogs, some howled like wolves; at the same time, all of them, looking at me with fury, threatened me, pounced on me, gnashing their teeth, and wanted to immediately devour me. They also prepared charters, as if in anticipation of a certain judge who would come there, and unrolled scrolls on which all my evil deeds were written. And my poor soul was in great fear and trembling. Then I suffered not only the mortal torment that came from the separation of the soul from the body, but also the most severe suffering from the vision of those terrible Ethiopians and their terrible rage, and this was for me like another death, more difficult and fierce. I tried to turn my gaze away from the vision, first in one direction, then in the other, so as not to see the terrible Ethiopians, not to hear their voices, but I could not get rid of them, for there were countless numbers of them everywhere and there was no one who would help me .

Already completely exhausted from such suffering, I suddenly saw two luminous Angels of God who appeared to me in the form of beautiful young men, whose beauty is impossible to describe. Their faces were brighter than the sun, their eyes looked at me tenderly, the hair on their heads was white as snow, a golden-like radiance spread around their heads, their clothes shone like lightning and were cross-shapedly girded with golden belts on their chests. Approaching my bed, they stood to my right, quietly talking to each other. When I saw them, I rejoiced and looked at them with tenderness of heart. The black Ethiopians, seeing them, shuddered and retreated further away. And one luminous youth angrily said to them:

- “O shameless, damned, gloomy and evil enemies of the human race! Why do you always rush prematurely to the dying and with your shameless noise frighten and confuse every soul separated from the body? But now stop your joy, since here you will not gain anything. There is no part in this soul, because God’s mercy is with it.”

At these words of the bright young man, the Ethiopians immediately became agitated and began, with shouts, to show the writings of my evil deeds, committed from my youth.

- “How is it that we don’t have a part in her? And whose sins are these? Didn’t she do this and that?

So to speak, they stood waiting for death."

And then death came, roaring like a lion; her appearance was very terrible, she had some resemblance to a person, but had no body at all and was made up of only naked human bones. With her she carried various instruments of torment: swords, arrows, spears, scythes, sickles, iron horns, saws, axes, adzes and other unknown weapons. Seeing all this, my humble soul trembled with fear; the holy angels said to death:

- “Why are you delaying? Free this soul from the bonds of the flesh, quickly and quietly, for it does not have many sinful burdens.”

Immediately, death approached me: taking an ax, it cut off first my legs, then my arms, then, using another weapon, it destroyed all the other parts of my body and separated my limbs from their joints. And I had neither arms nor legs, and my whole body was dead. Death took and cut off my head, so that I could not turn my head and it was a stranger to me. After all, death made a solution in a cup and, raising it to my lips, gave me a drink.

And the solution was so bitter that my soul, not having the strength to endure the bitterness, shuddered and left the body, as if forcibly torn from it. The Holy Angels immediately took her into their arms. Looking back, I saw my body lying soulless, insensitive and motionless. Having taken him off like one takes off clothes, I looked at him with immense surprise. At this time, demons, appearing in the form of Ethiopians, surrounded the Angels holding me and began to scream, showing the writing of my sins:

- “This soul has many sins, so let it give an answer before us.”

The Holy Angels then began to look for good deeds in my life and, with the help of the Lord God, by whose grace I did good, they found them. They brought to mind all the good things I did - when I gave alms to the poor, when I fed the hungry, or gave drink to the thirsty, or clothed the naked, or brought a stranger to the house and laid him to rest, or served the saints, - when I visited the sick or prisoner to prison and helped them; they remembered when I came to church with zeal and prayed there with tenderness and heartfelt contrition, listening attentively to the singing and reading of church prayers and hymns, when I brought incense and candles or some other offering to the church, or poured wooden oil into the lamps, so that they warm up before the icons, and reverently kiss the most honest icons; they brought to mind when I spent my time abstinently and when I fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays and during all holy fasts and how many prostrations I made and stood idle at night vigils; they pointed out how I mournfully groaned about my sins and sometimes cried about them for whole nights, how I confessed my sins to God and repented of them with contrition before my spiritual father, satisfying the Truth of God with my contrition and heartfelt repentance; they remembered everything that I did good to my neighbors, how I was not angry with those who were at enmity against me, how I patiently endured all annoyance and reproach for myself, did not remember evil and repaid evil with good, how I humbled myself when people attacked me, how I was sick with her heart and grieved for someone else's misfortune, as she gave someone a helping hand or assisted someone in a good deed or turned him away from evil; they recalled that I turned my eyes away from vanity, kept my tongue from swearing, lying, slander and all sorts of vain words - all this and all my other smallest good deeds were collected by the holy Angels, preparing to put them on the scales against my evil deeds. The Ethiopians, seeing this, gnashed their teeth at me, wanting to kidnap me from the hands of the angels and bring me down to the very bottom of hell.

At this time, our Reverend Father Vasily unexpectedly appeared there and said to the holy Angels:

- “My lords, this soul has served me a lot, pleasing my old age: I prayed to God to give it to me, and the Lord sent this soul down to me.”

Having said this, he took out from under his clothes a bag filled with something (I think it contained only pure gold), and gave it to the holy Angels, saying:

- “When you go through airy ordeals and crafty spirits begin to torment this soul, you will redeem it from its debts. By the grace of God, I am rich and have collected many treasures through my labors and my sweat, and so I give a bag to this soul who has served me.” .

After these words he walked away. The crafty demons, seeing this, were perplexed, and then, filling the air with crying, disappeared.

Meanwhile, the saint of God, Vasily, came again and brought with him many vessels of pure oil and valuable myrrh; opening the vessels one after another, he poured oil and ointment on me, so that I was filled with a spiritual fragrance and at the same time changed and became a bright being.

The Monk Basil again said to the holy Angels:

- “My lords, after you have completed everything necessary for this soul, lead it into the abode prepared for me by the Lord, and let it abide there.”

Having said this, the saint became invisible; The angels took me and carried me through the air to the east.

When we rose from the earth to the heights of heaven, we were first greeted by the airy spirits of the first ordeal, at which we are judged for the sins of the tongue, for every idle, abusive, disorderly, and foul word. Here we stopped, and the demons brought scrolls to us, on which were written all the frivolous words that I had spoken from my youth - everything that I said that was unreasonable and nasty, especially the blasphemous and ridiculous speeches that I allowed to be uttered in my youth, like this happens to many people. There appeared before me all the worldly shameless songs that I had once sung, all my disorderly exclamations, all my frivolous speeches, and the demons denounced me with all that, pointing out the times, places and persons when, where and with whom I indulged. vain conversations and angered God with my words, without imputing it to myself as a sin and without confessing it to my spiritual father. Seeing all this, I was silent, as if speechless, because I did not have anything to say to the evil spirits: they denounced me quite rightly, and I was surprised how they had not forgotten anything, for many years had passed since all these sins were were done by me, and I had long forgotten about them and never thought about what I had done in my mind; They cited all my words as if they had just been spoken by me, recalling everything in detail and to the subtleties, as it really was. And when I was silent with shame, at the same time trembling with fear, the holy Angels, in contrast to those sins of mine, presented some of my good deeds done in last years my life, and since they could not outweigh the severity of my sins, they filled the deficiency from what was given by my venerable father Vasily. So they redeemed me and carried me higher.

Here we come to another ordeal, called the ordeal of lies, in which every false word is tortured, especially perjury, calling the name of God in vain, false witness, violation of vows given to God, incomplete confession of sins, and the like. The spirits of this ordeal are very ardent and ferocious - they tested me very persistently, not missing a single detail. And I was convicted by them of two sins: namely, that sometimes I allowed myself to lie about some small things, without counting it as a sin, and also that many times, ashamed of my sins, I brought an incomplete confession to my spiritual father. As for perjury and false witness, these sins, by the grace of Christ, were not found in me. Still, the demons triumphed over the sins of lies found in me and already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the Angels who were leading me, but they, putting some of my good deeds against those sins, and filling in what was missing from what was given by the Monk Basil, ransomed me and carried me higher without hindrance.

After that, we reached the third ordeal, which is called the ordeal of condemnation and slander. Kept there, I saw how grave the sin is to slander someone, to dishonor, to blaspheme, and also to laugh at other people’s vices, forgetting about one’s own. All who surrender to the power of this sin are cruelly tortured by evil spirits, as a kind of antichrist who anticipated the power of Christ, who has to come to judge people, and who created themselves judges of their neighbors, while they themselves are more worthy of condemnation. But in me, by the grace of Christ, little could be found of any of these sins, for I strictly observed myself all the days of my life, taking care not to condemn or slander anyone, not to laugh at anyone, not to blaspheme anyone. ; and if sometimes I heard how someone condemned another, then I paid little attention to the condemner, and if I added something of myself to this conversation, then only such that could not serve as a further offense to my neighbor, and even then I immediately stopped, looking myself for this little. However, even such offenses were made a sin to me by the torturers. But the holy Angels redeemed me with what was given to me by Saint Basil and began to rise higher with me.

And we have reached the fourth ordeal, called the ordeal of gluttony. The evil spirits of this ordeal immediately ran out to meet us, rejoicing as if they had acquired something. They were very disgusting in appearance, depicting all the abomination of gluttony and drunkenness; at the same time, some of them held dishes and pans with food, while others held bowls and mugs with drink, and I saw that that food and drink were like stinking pus and unclean excrement. The demons holding both looked satiated and drunk; they galloped around with various whistles and did everything that drunkards and feasts usually do, cursing over the souls of sinners brought to them. Having blocked our path and walked around us like dogs, they immediately exposed all my past sins of gluttony, when I indulged in excess in food and drink and ate forcefully and without any need, when I, like a pig, started eating in the morning without prayers and the sign of the cross, or when, during fasting, she sat down at the table earlier than the rules of the church charter allowed. They also presented the cups and vessels on which I drank while indulging in drunkenness, and even indicated the number of cups drunk, saying: “She drank so many cups at such and such a feast and with such and such people; at another time and in another place She drank so many cups to the point of unconsciousness; moreover, she feasted so many times at the sound of pipes and other musical instruments, indulging in dances and songs, and after such feasts they brought her home with difficulty - she was so exhausted from immeasurable drunkenness.”

Imagining all these and similar gluttonies, the demons triumphed and rejoiced, as if they already had me in their hands, and were already preparing to grab me and bring me down to the bottom of hell. I trembled, seeing myself exposed by them and not having anything to answer them. But the holy Angels, having taken a lot from what St. Basil had given, offered a ransom for me. The demons, seeing this, became confused and cried out:

- “Woe to us, for our work is lost, our hope is lost.”

With these words they began to throw into the air the charters in which my sins were written. I, seeing this, had fun and walked from there unhindered. Rising higher with me, the Angels began to talk to each other like this:

Truly, this soul has great help from the saint of God Vasily: if his works and prayers had not helped her, she would have suffered great need, going through airy ordeals.

Then, having boldness, I said to the holy Angels:

- “My lords, I think that no one living on earth knows what happens here and what awaits the sinful soul after its death.”

The Holy Angels answered me:

- “Do not the Divine Scriptures, constantly read in holy churches by the mouths of clergy, testify to everything that exists here? But those addicted to earthly vanity neglect all this, placing all the sweetness of life in daily gluttony and drunkenness: Every day they eat without measure and get drunk, putting aside the fear of God, and having a belly instead of God, they do not think at all about the future life and do not remember the Word of God, which says: Woe to you who are full now, for you will hunger. you who laugh now, for you will weep and wail (Luke 6:25). They think with little faith that everything that is said in the Divine Scripture is a fable, and they neglect what is written, “feasting with timbrels,” like the rich man of the Gospel: “and they feasted brilliantly every day” (see Luke 16:19). However, those of them who are merciful to the poor, do good to the poor and needy and help those in need of help, receive forgiveness of their sins from God and go through ordeals without hindrance, for the sake of their mercy, for Holy Bible says: alms delivers from death (Tob. 4:10). Thus, those who give alms receive eternal life; for those who do not try to cleanse their sins with mercy, it is impossible to avoid these trials, and they are kidnapped by the gloomy publicans whom you saw; subjecting these souls to cruel torment, they bring them down to the lowest places of hell and keep them there in bonds until the Last Judgment of Christ. It would also be difficult for you to avoid this fate if you had not received the redemption given to you by the Monk Basil.”

Thus conversing, we reached the fifth ordeal, called the ordeal of laziness, in which all the days and hours spent in idleness are tested, and parasites who live on the labor of others, doing nothing themselves, are tortured, as well as mercenaries who receive remuneration for work that is properly done. do not comply. In the same ordeal, those who do not give praise to God and are lazy on holidays and Sundays to go to Matins, to the Liturgy and to other services of God are also subjected to torture. There one also experiences despondency and neglect of one’s soul, and every manifestation of both is strictly punished, so that very many people of worldly and spiritual rank are cast from this ordeal into the abyss. At this ordeal, I too was subjected to many trials, and it would have been impossible for me to be free from his debts if my poverty had not been filled with what was given to me by St. Basil, by which I was redeemed and through this I received freedom.

After that we went through the ordeal of the prison. We were also stopped there, but, having given a little there, we soon passed it, for no sin of theft was found on me, except for the small offense I committed in childhood due to foolishness.

From there we came to the ordeal of love of money and avarice, but even then we soon passed. For, with the assistance of the Lord God, I did not care about much acquisition and was not a lover of money, but was content with what the Lord sent me, I was also not stingy, but what I had, I diligently gave to those in need.

Rising higher, we encountered the ordeal of interest, where all kinds of covetous people and robbers are tested, as well as everyone who gives their silver for interest and acquires wealth through lawless means. The evil spirits of this ordeal, having diligently examined everything about me, found nothing of which I was guilty, and gnashed their teeth at me in rage. We went higher, thanking the Lord God.

After that, we reached the ordeal of unrighteousness, in which all unrighteous judges are tortured, taking bribes and acquitting the guilty, while condemning the innocent. There, the withholding of wages to hired workers, any irregularity in the scales of merchants are tortured, and any untruth is exacted. But we, by the grace of Christ, went through that ordeal without any special obstacles, giving little to the tax collectors.

We also safely passed the ordeal of envy that followed, without giving anything there, because I did not envy anyone. During this ordeal, we also experienced the sins of enmity and hatred, but by the grace of Christ, I turned out to be innocent of these sins. Seeing this, the demons became enraged and gnashed at me, but I was not afraid of them and joyfully rose higher.

In a similar way, I went through the ordeal of pride, where arrogant spirits exact the sins of vanity, conceit and grandeur. There, they are diligently tormented to see whether anyone has shown disrespect and disobedience to parents or elders who received power from God, as well as other sins of pride and conceit. There we put very little of what St. Basil had given, and I became free.

Then we reached the ordeal of anger and rage, but even there, although the aerial torturers were fierce, they did not receive much from us, and we moved on, rejoicing in the Lord God, who saved my sinful soul through the prayers of my venerable father, Saint Basil.

After that, we reached the ordeal of malice, in which those who hold a grudge against their neighbor and repay evil for evil are mercilessly tortured and are then brought down by evil spirits to Tartarus. But God’s mercy helped me there too, for I didn’t hold any grudge against anyone, I didn’t remember any evil about the troubles they had caused me, but I had kindness towards everyone who was hostile to me and, according to my strength, I showed love for them, defeating evil with good. Thus, no sin of malice was found on me at this ordeal, so that the demons wept with rage, seeing that my soul was freely leaving them; We began to climb further, rejoicing in the Lord.

Rising higher and higher, I asked the holy Angels who led me:

- “I beg you, my lords, tell me: how do the terrible air authorities know about every evil deed of all people living in the world, such as, for example, about my evil deeds, and, moreover, not only about those that are clearly created, but even about those that were done secretly!"

And the holy angels said to me:

- “Every Christian, from holy baptism, receives from God the Guardian Angel given to him, who, invisibly protecting a person, day and night, instructs him in every good deed throughout his life until the hour of death and records all his good deeds throughout his life created so that, as a reward for them, a person can receive mercy from God and eternal reward in the Heavenly Kingdom. In the same way, the prince of darkness, who wants to attract the human race to his destruction, assigns one of the evil spirits to a person, who, constantly following a person, monitors all his evil deeds committed from youth, with his machinations seduces him into criminal acts and writes down everything that a person has done evil. Then, going to the ordeals, this evil spirit writes each sin into the corresponding ordeal, which is why the air publicans are aware of all the sins committed by people. And when the soul of a person is separated from the body and begins to go to its Creator in the heavenly villages, then the evil spirits standing at the ordeals block its path, showing all its recorded sins. And if there are more good deeds in her than sins, then the demons will not be able to restrain her. If more sins are found in her than good deeds, then the demons hold her back for a while and imprison her, as if in prison, where, by God’s permission, they torment her until that soul accepts redemption from their torment, through the prayers of the Church and through alms , created in memory of her by her loved ones. If any soul turns out to be so sinful and abominable before God that it has no hope of salvation and eternal destruction awaits it, then the demons immediately cast such a soul into the abyss, in which a place of eternal torment is prepared for themselves , and in this abyss they keep her until the Second Coming of the Lord, after which she must suffer forever in fiery hell along with her body.”

It is also necessary to note that only those who are enlightened by faith and holy baptism ascend this way and accept such tortures. Infidel pagans, Saracens and all other people of other faiths in general do not follow this path. While still alive in body, they are already dead in soul, buried in hell; therefore, when they die, demons immediately, without great testing, take their souls, as rightfully belonging to them, and bring them down to the abysses of hell.

When the Angels announced all this to me, we entered the ordeal of murder, in which not only robbery is tested, but also every wound, every blow inflicted anywhere, on the shoulders or on the head, as well as every blow or push made in anger. All this is carefully tested at the ordeal and relied on scales; but we passed it safely, leaving a little for the ransom.

We also passed the ordeal of enchantment, poisoning with herbs and invoking demons for the purpose of magic. The spirits of this ordeal were like four-legged reptiles, scorpions, snakes, vipers and toads, and their appearance was very terrible and vile. But there, by the grace of Christ, no sin was found on me, and we immediately went through the ordeal, without giving anything to the evil tax collectors. In rage they shouted at me and said:

- “Now you will come to the ordeal of fornication. Let’s see how you avoid it”...

When we rose higher, I asked the holy angels leading me:

My lords, do all Christians go through these ordeals and is it possible for a person to go through them without any torture and terrible torment?

The Holy Angels answered me:

- “For the souls of the faithful, there is no other path leading to heaven, and everyone will come this way, but not everyone is subjected to such torture as you were subjected to, but only sinners like you, who did not make a perfect confession of their sins before their spiritual father, ashamed of the lawless deeds and hiding many of them. If someone sincerely and in truth, without hiding anything, confesses all his deeds and with heartfelt contrition repents of all the sins he has committed, then the sins of such a person, by the mercy of God, are invisibly blotted out, and when the soul his ordeal is coming, the airy torturers, having opened their books, do not find in them any manuscripts of her sins and cannot do her any harm, so that soul ascends unhindered and in joy to the Throne of Grace. And you, if you had made a perfect confession and would have repented of all your sins, would not have endured such terrible tortures at the ordeals. But now what has helped you is that you have long ceased to commit mortal sins and spent the last years of your life virtuously, and the prayers of your reverend father Vasily, to whom you She served long and diligently."

Thus talking, we reached the ordeal of fornication, in which all fornication, every lustful thought and dream, as well as passionate touches and lustful touches are tortured. The prince of this ordeal sat on his throne, dressed in foul and stinking clothes, sprinkled with bloody foam, and many demons stood before him. Seeing me reach them, they marveled a lot, and then, having brought out the writing of my fornication, they denounced me, pointing out with whom, when and where I sinned during my youth.

And I had nothing to object to them, and trembled with fear, filled with shame. Then the Angels said to the demons:

- “But she had not committed fornication for many years and lived the last years of her life in a fasting manner, in purity and abstinence.”

The demons answered them:

- “We know that she has long fallen behind prodigal sin, but still she belongs to us, because she did not completely and not quite sincerely repent before her spiritual father of the sins she had committed earlier, hiding a lot from him; therefore, either leave it to us, or redeem it with good works.”

The angels gave them a lot from my good deeds and even more from the gift of St. Basil, and, barely getting rid of the cruel misfortune, I was taken away from there.

After that, we reached the ordeal of adultery, in which the sins of those living in marriage and not observing marital fidelity, but desecrating their bed, are tortured, as well as all kinds of abductions of virgins for the purpose of corrupting them and all kinds of fornication. Here those who dedicated themselves to God and made a vow to keep their lives in purity and virginity, but then did not keep this vow, are also tortured by the fall. At this ordeal, I was exposed as an adulteress and had nothing to say in my defense, so the merciless torturers, nasty and unclean spirits, already intended to kidnap me from the hands of the angels and bring me down to the bottom of hell. But the holy Angels entered into an argument with them and presented all my subsequent labors and exploits, and thus redeemed me with all my remaining good deeds, which put everything there to the last, leaving at the same time very much of what was given by the Monk Basil. They put all this on the scales against my iniquities and, taking me, carried me further.

Here we are approaching the ordeal of Sodomy sins, in which they torture the unnatural sins of men and women, sodomy and bestiality, incest and other secret sins that are shameful to even remember. The prince of this ordeal had a very nasty and ugly appearance and was all covered with stinking pus; His servants were like him in everything: their stench was very unbearable, their appearance was vile and terrible, their rage and cruelty was excessive. Seeing us, they hastily came out to meet us and surrounded us, but, not finding in me, by the grace of God, anything for which they could bring them to trial, they ran away in shame; We happily moved on. Rising higher, the Angels said to me: “Here you are, Theodora, you have seen the terrible and vile ordeals of fornication. Know that few souls go through these ordeals unhindered, since the world lies in evil, people are very weak and from youth they are addicted to adulterous sins.” There are few, very few people who mortify their carnal lusts, and therefore rarely do anyone go through these ordeals freely and unhindered; on the contrary, there are very many people who, having reached this ordeal, die here, for the torturers of fornication kidnap people addicted to fornication and cast down into hell, subjecting them to the most severe torments. The princes of prodigal ordeals even boast, saying: “We alone, more than all other tax collectors of the air, replenish the number of those cast down to the bottom of hell, who thus seem to come into kinship with us, being subjected to the same fate as us.” Therefore, Theodora, you thank God that, through the prayers of your reverend father Vasily, you passed through these ordeals and you will no longer experience any evil and you will not know fear.”

Meanwhile, we have come to the ordeal of heresies, where wrong wisdom about faith, deviations from the Orthodox confession of faith, unbelief, doubts about the truths of revealed teaching, blasphemy against sacred things, and similar sins are tortured. I passed this ordeal without any testing and was already close to the gates to the Heavenly Kingdom.

Finally, the evil spirits of the last ordeal, called the ordeal of hard-heartedness, met us. The torturers of this ordeal are very cruel and fierce, but their prince, who has a very sad and mournful appearance, breathing the fire of rage and unmercifulness, is especially cruel. At that ordeal, the souls of the merciless are tested without any mercy. And if someone, although he accomplishes many feats, constantly observes fasts and prays earnestly, and also maintains his purity undefiled, but at the same time turns out to be unmerciful and closes his heart to his neighbor, he is cast from there into hell and is imprisoned in the abyss and, thus, he himself remains deprived of mercy. But we, by the grace of Christ, passed this ordeal without any special obstacles thanks to the prayers of St. Basil, who gave us much from his good deeds for my redemption.

Thus, having passed all the terrible ordeals, we approached with great joy the very gates of the Heavenly Kingdom. These gates were like a bright crystal and an indescribable radiance emanated from them; At the gate stood light-like young men who, seeing me carried by angelic hands, were filled with joy, rejoicing that I had escaped the airy ordeals, and having met us with love, they led us through the gates into the Heavenly Kingdom. And what I saw and heard there, O child Gregory,” continued Blessed Theodora, “it is impossible to tell in detail! I saw that the eye of man did not see, nor the ear hear, nor did it enter into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). Finally, I appeared before the Throne of Divine Glory, surrounded by Seraphim, Cherubim and many heavenly warriors, always praising the Lord with ineffable songs. Here I fell and bowed to the invisible and unknown God. And the Heavenly Powers sang a sweet-sounding song, glorifying Divine mercy, which no human sins can overcome. At that time, a voice was heard from the Throne of the Glory of God, commanding the holy Angels who were leading me to show me all the heavenly abodes of saints and all the torments of sinners and then to place me in the monastery of St. Basil. And the holy Angels took me everywhere, so that I saw many beautiful villages and abodes, filled with glory and grace - abodes that were prepared for those who love God. I saw there apostolic, prophetic, martyr, monastic and other monasteries, special for each rank of saints. Each monastery was of indescribable beauty, equal in breadth and length, I would say, to Constantinople, but at the same time it was distinguished by incomparably greater beauty, having many bright chambers not made by hands. Everywhere in those monasteries the voice of joy and spiritual joy was heard and the faces of the joyful righteous were visible, who, seeing me, rejoiced at my salvation, met me with love and kissed me, praising the Lord, who delivered me from the snares of the enemy. Having completed my tour of the heavenly abodes, I was relegated to the underworld and saw the terrible and unbearable torment prepared for sinners in hell. Showing them, the holy Angels said to me:

- “Look, Theodora, how cruel torments the Lord has delivered you through the prayers of His holy saint Basil.”

Walking around the abysses of hell, I heard and saw crying, screaming and bitter sobbing of those in those torments. Some of them cried out: “Woe to us”; others sighed: “Alas, how hard it is for us!”; still others cursed their birthday.

After all, the Angels who led me led me to the monastery of St. Basil, which you see, and installed me here, saying:

- “Now St. Basil is creating a memory of you.”

And I realized that I came to this place of calm on the fortieth day after my separation from the body."

The Monk Theodora told Gregory all this in a dream vision and showed him the beauty of the monastery in which she was located, and all its spiritual riches, collected through the many labors and sweat of Blessed Father Vasily.

This is where the vision ended. At the end of it, Gregory arose from sleep and thought a lot, marveling at what he saw and heard from blessed Theodora. In the morning he went to the Monk Vasily to receive the usual blessing from him. The monk asked him:

- “Child Gregory, where were you that night?”

He, as if knowing nothing, answered:

- “I slept, father, on my bed.”

The elder said to this:

“I know that in body you were resting on the bed, but in spirit you were in a different place. Or have you forgotten what God revealed to you that night in a dream vision? So you got what you wanted so much: you saw Theodora, heard about her transition to future life from her herself and was in my monastery, which, by the grace of Christ, was prepared for me for the sake of my small labors. Thus, you contemplated everything that you wanted to know."

Hearing such words, Gregory knew that his dream was not a false dream, but a real revelation from God, interceded by the prayers of the monk; then, having thanked God, he bowed to his spiritual father, after which he received from him instruction appropriate for the occasion...

May we also be worthy of the fate of those who love God, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen.

The ordeal of the soul after death

There are many versions of what happens to the soul after death. In Christianity, it is believed that she will have to go through ordeals - certain tests. This is a kind of cleansing that is important before meeting God. This period lasts 40 days.

What ordeals does the soul go through after death?

It is believed that the soul spends six days on an excursion in heaven, and then it goes to hell. All the time there are angels nearby who tell information about the good deeds performed by the soul during life. Ordeals are represented by demons who seek to drag the soul to hell. It is believed that there are 20 ordeals in total, but this is not the number of sins, but passions, which include many different vices.

20 ordeals of the soul after death:

Celebration. This category includes vain conversations, irrational laughter and songs. Lie. A person is subjected to these ordeals if he lies in confession and to other people, as well as if he pronounces his name in vain...

When the sacrament of death is performed and the soul is separated from the body, it (the soul) remains on earth for the first days and, accompanied by angels, visits those places in which it used to create truth. She wanders around the house in which she was separated from her body, and sometimes stays near the coffin in which her body rests. On the third day, every Christian soul is supposed to ascend to heaven to worship God.

On the third day, the body is consigned to the earth, and the soul must ascend to heaven: “and the dust will return to the earth, as it was, and the spirit will return to God, who gave it.”

If the soul has not known itself, has not fully realized itself here on earth, then, as a spiritual and moral being, it must, of necessity, realize itself beyond the grave; to realize what she had developed in herself, what she had adapted to, what sphere she was accustomed to, what constituted food and contentment for her. To become aware of oneself and thus carry out judgment on oneself before God’s judgment - this is what heavenly justice wants.

1. Trials

St. Theophan the Recluse explains the spiritual meaning of ordeals:

“What ordeals? - This is an image of a private court after death, at which the entire life of the dying person is reviewed with all sins and good deeds. Sins are recognized as atoned for by opposite good deeds or corresponding repentance.

Find “Cheti-Minei month March”. There, on the 26th, the passage of the ordeals of St. Elder Theodora is described. — All unjustified sinners who die in life undergo ordeal. Only perfect Christians do not linger at ordeals, but ascend straight to heaven like a bright streak.”

Saint John (Maximovich):

“The soul...continues to live, without ceasing its existence for a single moment. Through many manifestations of the dead we have been given partial knowledge of what happens to the soul when it leaves the body. When vision with the physical eyes ceases, spiritual vision begins.

...on leaving the body the soul finds itself among other spirits, good and evil. She usually reaches out to...

In the 19th century, Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, speaking about the state of the soul after death, wrote: “It should, however, be noted that, just as in general in the depiction of objects of the spiritual world, for us clothed in flesh, features that are more or less sensual, humanoid are inevitable, so , in particular, they are inevitably admitted in the detailed teaching about the ordeals that the human soul goes through when separated from the body. Therefore, we must firmly remember the instruction given by the angel Venerable. Macarius of Alexandria, as soon as he began to speak about ordeals: “Take earthly things here for the weakest image of heavenly ones.” It is necessary to imagine the ordeals not in a crude, sensual sense, but as much as is possible for us in the spiritual sense, and not get attached to the particulars that are given by different writers and in different legends of the Church itself, despite the unity of the basic thought about the ordeals.” These extremely significant words of the angel cannot in any way diminish when we come into contact with messages about that world. For…

Body and soul are one, however, the body is mortal, but the soul is not. When a person dies, his soul has to go through ordeals - a kind of exams. We'll tell you what these tests are and how long they last.

Those who have faced terrible grief - the death of a loved one, are probably interested in what happens next to the human soul, what path does it take and why are 40 days considered important? We will tell you about what trials the human soul faces, how long they last and how its final fate will be decided.

Living our earthly life, our body is one with our soul, however, when a person dies, his soul is separated. At the same time, this soul does not forget all the passions and habits, good and bad deeds, character and attachments that were formed over the years. And after death she has to answer for all her actions and actions.

40 days after death are the hardest for the human soul. In Orthodoxy this day is considered...

Soul after death: 3, 9, 40 days - what do these numbers mean? What can we do for the dead? We will talk about this in this article!

Soul after death: Chapter 10. Brief summary of Orthodox teaching on the posthumous fate of the soul

The soul after death: Chapter 1. Some aspects of modern experiments

The soul after death: Chapter 2. Orthodox teaching about angels

Soul after death: Chapter 3. Appearances of angels and demons at the hour of death

Soul after death: Chapter 4. Modern experience of “Heaven”

The soul after death: Chapter 5. The airy kingdom of spirits

Soul after death: Chapter 6. Air ordeals

Soul after death: Chapter 7. Experiences of “leaving the body” in occult literature

The Soul After Death: Chapter 8. Authentic Christian Experiences of Heaven

Soul after death: Chapter 9. The meaning of modern “posthumous” experiences

In the first nine chapters of this book we have attempted to set out some basic aspects of Orthodox Christian view for life after death...

ordeals

Ordeals are obstacles through which every soul must go through upon separation from the body on the way to the throne of God for private judgment; this is a test (conviction of sins) of the soul carried out in the air evil spirits. The ordeal takes place on the third day after death.

Two angels lead the soul along this path. Each of the ordeals is controlled by demons - unclean spirits who try to take the soul going through the ordeal to hell. Demons provide a list of sins related to a given ordeal (a list of lies at the ordeal of lies, etc.), and angels provide good deeds committed by the soul during life.

There are 20 ordeals in total:

1. idle talk and foul language
2. lies
3. condemnation and slander
4. binge eating and drunkenness
5. laziness
6. theft
7. love of money and stinginess
8. covetousness
9. untruths and vanity
10. envy
11. pride
12. anger
13. rancor
14. robbery
15. sorcery, charm, poisoning...

Posthumous ordeals. A forty-day journey of the soul. Valentina Yakushina

I was born to the sound of bells. My parents' house located a few tens of meters from the huge temple, which today is included in the Golden Yaroslavl Ring. As a child, I woke up to the sound of the gospel sounding from the bell tower. I remember the blessed state of mind with which we left the church to the sound of the bells after Sunday service. In every room, including the kitchen, of our large house there was a red corner with large icons in gilded icon cases. In the evenings, my grandmother always gathered us, five grandchildren, for home prayer. I left the village (parental) house at the age of 16 to study in Yaroslavl. Then my life with God was interrupted. After all, I was studying to be a teacher, and this was a time when teachers were forbidden to believe in God. My childhood habits of praying, going to church, repenting, and taking communion disappeared from my life.
I worked in schools for more than 40 years. But, k...

2. Patristic testimony about aerial ordeals

“The teaching about ordeals is the teaching of the Church. There is no doubt that the holy Apostle Paul speaks of them when he proclaims that Christians must contend with the spirits of wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). We find this teaching in the most ancient church tradition and in church prayers” (p. 138).

Bishop Ignatius quotes many saints. Fathers who teach about ordeals. Here we quote some of them.
St. Athanasius the Great in his life of St. Anthony the Great describes how once St. Anthony

“at the arrival of the ninth hour, having begun to pray before eating food, he was suddenly caught up in the Spirit and lifted up by the Angels to a height. The air demons opposed his procession; The angels, arguing with them, demanded an explanation of the reasons for their opposition, because Anthony had no sins. The demons tried to expose the sins he had committed since birth; but the Angels stopped the mouths of the slanderers, telling them that they should not count his sins from...

Where does the soul go after death? What path does she take? Where are the souls of the deceased? Why are All Souls' Days important? These questions very often force a person to turn to the teachings of the Church. So what do we know about the afterlife? “Thomas” tried to formulate answers according to the creed Orthodox Church to the most frequently asked questions about life after death.

What happens to the soul after death?

How exactly we relate to our future death, whether we wait for it to approach or, on the contrary, carefully erase it from consciousness, trying not to think about it at all, directly affects how we live our lives. present life, on our perception of its meaning. A Christian believes that death as the complete and final disappearance of a person does not exist. According to Christian doctrine, we will all live forever, and immortality is the true goal of human life, and the day of death is at the same time the day of his birth for a new life. After the death of the body the soul...

Is there life after death? What happens to a person when he dies? Every person has asked these questions at least once during his life. Common sense undoubtedly assures us that there is life after death, and that the human soul is immortal! All people who have ever experienced clinical death tell approximately the same thing. In all cases, the consciousness of the deceased does not cease. The functions of the body and the organism as a whole cease, but consciousness not only does not die, but also acquires some special distinctness and clarity. All these people say that when their hearts stopped, they continued to be fully aware of what was happening. The person continues to see, feel and experience fear. At a certain moment, the deceased suddenly realizes that he sees himself as if from the outside, sees his body in a hospital bed, doctors trying to restore the activity of the heart, the whole ward. Help from psychics, video blogs and video tips on...

What happens to the soul after death: theories and hypotheses about where the human soul ends up

Sooner or later, every mortal thinks about the upcoming afterlife. Most people are terrified by the prospect. A detailed answer to the now popular question of what happens to the soul after death can be read below.

Structure of the Universe

The universe can be described as a structure consisting of three layers:

Reality. Physical world. Our current location. Correct. The world of the subtlest energy. Here a new soul is born. Nav. A certain layer between “Reality” and “Rule”. The soul that appears in “Rule” passes through this world and strives for “Reality”. The soul of the deceased travels this path in the opposite direction.

The path of the soul after the death of a person:

Death. The soul leaves physical body. For some time, and we will describe this period in more detail below, the entity is in the world of Reality. Cleansing. The soul rises to Nav. In that high world cleansing is underway...

Tannarh
TRIALS OF THE SOUL
(Compilation from various sources) IntroductionWorks of the Holy FathersOther sourcesAfterword

No matter how wild the thought of ordeals may seem to smart people, going through them cannot be avoided.

Feofan the Recluse

Introduction

Death of Saint Theodora
and visions of the ordeals of the soul. XIX century

According to Macarius of Alexandria, during the first two days after death the soul still remains on earth and, accompanied by angels, visits its familiar places. And only on the third day does she ascend to heaven to worship God. On this day, which is called tretina, they commemorate the deceased, pray for his soul (serve a memorial service) and bury him. On the same day, the soul will have to go through the so-called “ordeal” - fallen spirits (“publicans”) try to intercept the soul ascending to God, convicting it of committed (and imperfect) sins. And everyone has many sins - idle talk, lies, slander, gluttony, laziness, theft, greed, envy, arrogance, malice, murder,...

In that fallen world The habitat of demons, the place where the souls of the newly departed meet them, is the air. Bishop Ignatius further describes this kingdom, which must be clearly understood in order to fully understand modern “posthumous” experiences.

“The Word of God and the Spirit who assists the word reveal to us through their chosen vessels that the space between heaven and earth, the entire azure abyss of the airs visible to us, the heavenly regions, serves as a dwelling for the fallen angels cast out of heaven...’’

“The Holy Apostle Paul calls the fallen angels spirits of wickedness in high places (Eph. VI, 12), and their head the prince of the power of the air (Eph. II, 2). Fallen angels are scattered in multitudes throughout the transparent abyss that we see above us. They do not cease to outrage all human societies and each individual individually; there is no atrocity, there is no crime in which they would not be the instigators and participants; they incline and teach a person to sin by all kinds of means. Your adversary...

What are ordeals?

In the 19th century, Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow, speaking about the state of the soul after death, wrote: “It should, however, be noted that, just as in general in the depiction of objects of the spiritual world, for us clothed in flesh, features that are more or less sensual, humanoid are inevitable, so , in particular, they are inevitably admitted in the detailed teaching about the ordeals that the human soul goes through when separated from the body. Therefore, we must firmly remember the instruction given by the angel Venerable. Macarius of Alexandria, as soon as he began to speak about ordeals: “Take earthly things here for the weakest image of heavenly ones.” It is necessary to imagine the ordeals not in a crude, sensual sense, but as much as is possible for us in the spiritual sense, and not get attached to the particulars that are given by different writers and in different legends of the Church itself, despite the unity of the basic thought about the ordeals.” These extremely significant words of the angel cannot in any way diminish when we come into contact with...

Even science confirms that life after death exists. But what then awaits us beyond the grave? What are ordeals? What are these, some kind of customs points? What tests must a person go through to get to heaven? What sins will you have to answer for there? What can you take with you to another world?

Imagine that you are going abroad. For example, you have long dreamed of seeing the ocean. You already imagine the Cote d'Azur, the gentle sun, the sound of waves and the singing of seagulls. But wait, it's not that simple! Before the plane takes you to the pictured paradise, you need to apply for a visa, go through all customs... But even all these procedures do not overshadow the beauty of what you have to see and comprehend.

Death is like a journey abroad

Of course, the Orthodox teaching on aerial ordeals can hardly be called preparation for a vacation abroad.

But still, some parallels will help to better understand the depth of this concept.

Death in a peculiar understanding is...

The other world is very interesting topic, which everyone thinks about at least once in their life. What happens to a person and his soul after death? Can he observe living people? These and many questions cannot but worry us. The most interesting thing is that there are many different theories about what happens to a person after death. Let's try to understand them and answer the questions that concern many people.

“Your body will die, but your soul will live forever”

Bishop Theophan the Recluse addressed these words in his letter to his dying sister. He, like other Orthodox priests, believed that only the body dies, but the soul lives forever. What is this connected with and how does religion explain it?

The Orthodox teaching about life after death is too large and voluminous, so we will consider only some of its aspects. First of all, in order to understand what happens to a person and his soul after death, it is necessary to find out what the purpose of all life on earth is. IN…