The Soul After Death

The Mystery of Death and the Beyond 82 By Father Ambroise Fontrier Dean of French Orthodox Parishes of the Russian Church Outside of Russia

Radio, television, periodicals, and a book have been speaking lately (in France) about death and the beyond. Even a Greek periodical appearing in French, and supposedly Orthodox, has taken part in this chorus, publishing an article entitled: “Tell me why ... no one has ever returned!” And the author concludes: “No human knowledge can give a certain answer to this mystery of the beyond: only faith dissipates the shadows a little....” In passing, he tips his hat to the Lord, Whom he calls “the qualified ferryman ...,” a ferryman who strangely recalls Charon, the pilot of hades in Greek mythology, who conducted the souls of the dead over the river Styx in his boat for the price of an obolus.

If the author of the article in question only had the text of the Orthodox funeral service, or the services for the dead on Saturdays; if he had read the Lives of the Saints or of the Fathers of the desert — he would have been able to “give an answer to this mystery of the beyond” and edify his readers. But our “Orthodox” ecumenists and modernists, owing to their flirtation with this world for which Christ the Saviour did not wish to pray, have become the salt which has lost its savor and which is good for nothing but to be trampled underfoot, according to the infallible word of the Lord.

In order to “dissipate a little the shadows” of the editor of the Greek periodical and edify at the same time our faithful and our readers, we give here three texts on the mystery of death and the beyond.

Tr. note: The first two texts are from St. Dionysius the Areopagite and from the life of an Athonite monk, showing how an Orthodox Christian prepares for death and the separation of the soul from the body. The third text, from the life of the late Greek iconographer, Photios Kontoglou (reposed in 1965) is translated below in full. (For his biography, see The Orthodox Word, Sept.-Oct., 1966).

The Great Wager Between Believers and Unbelievers By Photios Kontoglou83

On Pascha Monday, in the evening after midnight, before lying down to sleep I went out into the little garden behind my house. The sky was dark and covered with stars. I seemed to see it for the first time, and a distant psalmody seemed to descend from it. My lips murmured, very softly: “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship the footstool of His feet.” A holy man once told me that during these hours the heavens are opened. The air exhaled a fragrance of the flowers and herbs I had planted. “Heaven and earth are filled with the glory of the Lord.”

I could well have remained there alone until break of day. I was as if without a body and without any bond to the earth. But fearing that my absence would disturb those with me in the house, I returned and lay down.

Sleep had not really taken possession of me; I do not know whether I was awake or asleep, when suddenly a strange man rose up before me. He was as pale as a dead man. His eyes were as if open, and he looked at me in terror. His face was like a mask, like a mummy’s. His glistening, dark yellow skin was stretched tight over his dead man’s head with all its cavities. He was as if panting. In one hand he held some kind of bizarre object which I could not make out; the other hand was clutching his breast as if he were suffering.

This creature filled me with terror. I looked at him and he looked at me without speaking, as if he were waiting for me to recognize him, strange as he was. And a voice said to me: “It is so-and-so!” And I recognized him immediately. Then he opened his mouth and sighed. His voice came from far away; it came up as from a deep well.

He was in great agony, and I suffered for him. His hands, his feet, his eyes — everything showed that he was suffering. In my despair I was going to help him, but he gave me a sign with his hand to stop. He began to groan in such a way that I froze. Then he said to me: “I have not come; I have been sent. I shake without stop; I am dizzy. Pray God to have pity on me. I want to die but I cannot. Alas! Everything you told me before is true. Do you remember how, several days before my death, you came to see me and spoke about religion? There were two other friends with me, unbelievers like myself. You spoke, and they mocked. When you left, they said: ‘What a pity! He is intelligent and he believes the stupid things old women believe!’

“Another time, and other times too, I told you: ‘Dear Photios, save up money, or else you will die a pauper. Look at my riches, and I want more of them.’ You told me then: ‘Have you signed a pact with death, that you can live as many years as you want and enjoy a happy old age?’

“And I replied: ‘You will see to what an age I will live! Now I am 75; I will live past a hundred. My children are free from want. My son earns a lot of money, and I have married my daughter to a rich Ethiopian. My wife and I have more money than we need. I am not like you who listen to what the priests say: “A Christian ending to our life ...” and the rest. What have you to gain from a Christian ending? Better a full pocket and no worries.... Give alms? Why did your so merciful God create paupers? Why should I feed them? And they ask you, in order to go to Paradise, to feed idlers! Do you want to talk about Paradise? You know that I am the son of a priest and that I know well all these tricks. That those who have no brains believe them is well enough, but you who have a mind have gone astray. If you continue to live as you are doing, you will die before me, and you will be responsible for those you have led astray. As a physician I tell you and affirm that I will live a hundred and ten years....’ ”

After saying all this, he turned this way and that as if he were on a grill. I heard his groans: “Ah! Ouch! Oh! Oh!” He was silent for a moment, and then continued: “This is what I said, and in a few days I was dead! I was dead, and I lost the wager! What confusion was mine, what horror! Lost, I descended into the abyss. What suffering I have had up to now, what agony! Everything you told me was true. You have won the wager!

“When I was in the world where you are now, I was an intellectual, I was a physician. I had learned how to speak and to be listened to, to mock religion, to discuss whatever falls under the senses. And now I see that everything I called stories, myths, paper lanterns — is true. The agony which I am experiencing now — this is what is true, this is the worm that never sleeps, this is the gnashing of teeth.”

After having spoken thus, he disappeared. I still heard his groans, which gradually faded away. Sleep had begun to take possession of me, when I felt an icy hand touch me. I opened my eyes and saw him again before me. This time he was more horrible and smaller in body. He had become like a nursing infant, with a large old man’s head which he was shaking.

“In a short time the day will break, and those who have sent me will come to seek me!”

“Who are they?”

He spoke some confused words which I could not make out. Then he added: “There where I am, there are also many who mock you and your faith. Now they understand that their spiritual darts have not gone beyond the cemetery. There are both those you have done good to, and those who have slandered you. The more you forgive them, the more they detest you. Man is evil. Instead of rejoicing him, kindness makes him bitter, because it makes him feel his defeat. The state of these latter is worse than mine. They cannot leave their dark prison to come and find you as I have done. They are severely tormented, lashed by the whip of God’s love, as one of the Saints has said.84 The world is something else entirely from what we see! Our intellect shows it to us in reverse. Now we understand that our intellect was only stupid, our conversations were spiteful meanness, our joys were lies and illusions.

“You who bear God in your hearts, Whose word is Truth, the only Truth — you have won the great wager between believers and unbelievers. This wager I have lost. I tremble, I sigh, and I find no rest. In truth, there is no repentance in hell. Woe to those who walk as I did when I was on earth. Our flesh was drunk and mocked those who believed in God and eternal life; almost everyone applauded us. They treated you as mad, as imbeciles. And the more you accept our mockeries, the more our rage increases.

“Now I see how much the conduct of evil men grieved you. How could you bear with such patience the poisoned darts which issued from our lips which treated you as hypocrites, mockers of God, and deceivers of the people. If these evil men who are still on earth would see where I am, if only they were in my place, they would tremble for everything they are doing. I would like to appear to them and tell them to change their path, but I do not have the permission to do so, just as the rich man did not have it when he begged Abraham to send Lazarus the pauper. Lazarus was not sent, so that those who sinned might be worthy of punishment and those who went on the ways of God might be worthy of salvation.

“He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighteousness yet more; and he that is filthy, let him be made filthy yet more. And he that is righteous, let him do righteousness yet more; and he that is holy, let him be made holy yet more” (Apoc. 22:11).

With these words he disappeared.

Ed. note: Earlier in the book (chapter 1) we have quoted the teaching of Blessed Augustine that ordinarily it is only the saints who are able to have contact with the living, while ordinary sinners are bound in hell and cannot come out. However; it does happen, as in the present case, that God allows a soul from hell to appear to the living for some special purpose; some similar appearances are recorded in the book Eternal Mysteries Beyond the Grave. As Blessed Augustine writes: “The dead of themselves have no power to intervene in the affairs of the living” (“Care for the Dead,” ch. 16), and appear to the living only by God’s special allowance. It remains true, nevertheless, that such appearances are very rare, and the vast majority of the appearances of the “dead,” most notably those that occur through mediums, are the work of demons masquerading as the dead.

2. A Return from the Dead in Contemporary Greece By Archimandrite Cyprian Abbot of the Monastery of Sts. Cyprian and Justina, Fili, Greece

Herewith I am sending you an account of a person I know who died and returned to life, which I think you will find interesting as an example for your series of articles.

About four years ago, we received a call to take Holy Communion to an old lady, a widow living in a suburb of Athens. She was an old calendarist, and being almost bedridden, was unable to get to church. Though normally we do not undertake such services outside the monastery, and would direct people to a parish priest, nonetheless on this occasion I had a special feeling that I should go, and having prepared the Holy Gifts, I set out from the monastery. I found the old lady lying ill in a small and poor room; having no means of her own, she was cared for by various kind neighbors who brought her food and other necessities. I set down the Holy Gifts, and asked her if there was anything she wished to confess. She replied, “No, there is nothing on my conscience from these past years which I have not already confessed, but there is one grave sin from years ago which I would like to tell you, even though I have confessed it to many priests.” I replied that if she had already confessed it, she should not do so again. But she insisted, and what she had to tell is as follows:

When she was young and newly married, some 35 years before, she became pregnant at a time when her family was in the greatest financial straits. The other members of the family pressed her to have an abortion, but she refused absolutely. Eventually, however, due to the threats of her mother-in-law, she gave in against her will, and the operation was performed. The medical supervision of the illicit operation was very primitive, with the result that she caught a serious infection, and within the space of a few days died, without being able to confess her sin.

At the moment of death, which occurred in the evening, she felt her soul part from the body in the way that is usually described; her soul remained nearby and watched the body being washed, clothed and placed in the coffin. In the morning, she followed the procession to the church, watched the funeral, and saw the coffin loaded into the hearse for transfer to the cemetery. The soul was as though flying a small height above the body.

Suddenly there appeared in the road two “deacons,” as she described them, in shining white sticharia and oraria. One of them was reading a scroll. As the car approached, he held up his hand, and the car ground to a halt. The driver got out to see what was wrong with the motor, and in the meanwhile the angels started to converse. The one holding the scroll, which was clearly the record of her sins, looked up from his reading and said: “It is sad, she has a very serious sin on her list, and is bound for hell, since she did not confess it.” “Yes,” said the other, “but it is a pity that she should be punished, as she did not want to do it, but was forced into it by her family.” “Very well,” replied the first, “the only thing to do is to send her back to be able to confess her sin and repent of it.”

With these words, she felt herself being drawn back into her body, for which at that moment she felt an indescribable disgust and repulsion. After a moment, she came to, and started to knock on the inside of the coffin, which had been closed. The scene that followed can be imagined.

After hearing her history, which I have set forth in brief, I gave her Holy Communion, and departed giving glory to God who had permitted me to hear it. Being a matter of confession, I cannot tell you her name, but can inform you that she is still alive. If you feel it would be edifying, you certainly have my permission to publish it.

3. The “Dead” Appear in Contemporary Moscow By Priest Dimitry Dudko85

They say that many are complaining now, especially women: the dead are coming at night.

A woman buried her husband. Yes, she suffered a lot, she wept. She couldn’t sleep.

At twelve midnight she heard someone putting a key in the door, a scraping of feet; someone came to her bed.

“Valya, it is I.”

She jumped up in fear. Yes — before her was her dead husband; a conversation began.

The next night she waited in great fear. He came the next night also.

People told her: You’re dreaming. Educated people told her: You’re having hallucinations because of your sufferings. Psychiatrists took her under observation....

But what is this, after all? A person is basically normal, but here there is something abnormal. Hallucinations ... But what is a hallucination? Or is it simply some kind of apparition?

Here is a daughter. Her mother died long ago; she isn’t even thinking of her, and suddenly — her mother comes, at first alone, then with some kind of children.

A previously happy daughter now has become gloomy.

The daughter was taken to a hospital and treated. But treated for what?

Do we understand what this is about?

Here is a woman who is very disturbed and is thinking of killing herself. She is gloomy. Suddenly someone comes in and goes up to her.

“Vera, what are you thinking of!” A conversation begins, a good, heartfelt conversation.

The woman calms down. The woman who came goes away. After she leaves the woman comes to herself and thinks: how did she come — isn’t it late? She looks at the clock — it is 2 a.m. She goes to the door — it is locked.

The next day she checks — did that woman really come to her? She had not visited those people for a long time, five years. They answer. The woman who had come in the night — has been dead for a long time. That means — she came from the other world. This woman feels good.

The first two incidents are alarming, causing fear; the last incident has a calming effect.

Unbelievers will say about both types of incidents: a hallucination, a disordered imagination....

When people don’t know what to say, they say: a hallucination, imagination. But does this explain anything?

Let us give another example.

A pilot crashes, and his wife has a dream: “Give me two rubles.”

The wife pays no attention; she has the same dream over and over. She begins to be alarmed. She asks: why is this happening?

Some say: pay no attention; but this doesn’t calm her. Previously she had never gone to church or thought about God; but now she turns to church people. They advise her to have a pannikhida served. She doesn’t know how to do it. They explain to her. She orders a pannikhida and asks: “How much does it cost?”

“Two rubles.”

And so here is the meaning of the dream: “Give me two rubles.”

After the pannikhida the dreams stopped.

In our time the boundaries of this world and the other world begin to become confused.86 What I have related here is no invention of mine, and not something recited from books; it is what has occurred in our own life, and not so long ago.

We have ceased thinking about the resurrection of the dead, and therefore the dead give us no repose....

What is death? Is there life there? As long as everything seems all right with us, we do not think about these questions. But there are cases when suddenly the boundaries of this world are torn away and a man sees something that later overturns his whole consciousness.

Perhaps some of you have read in a pre-revolutionary book how a certain person, by the name of Uekskuell, suddenly found himself in the other world; he later described all this himself.87 And before this he had even been an atheist; he did not accept life after death and laughed at those who did accept it.

He saw his own body which he had left, and the people gathered around it. It seemed strange to him why they had gathered there. After all, he was not there, but here. He wanted to tell them about this, but his voice was lost in emptiness; they didn’t hear him. He wanted to touch them with his hand, but his hand went right through them without touching them.

Just imagine what it would be like to be in such a situation.

We will not say what he saw, but after this vision, when returned again to his body, he abandoned all pleasures and dedicated himself to God....

Such things happen in order to bring us to our senses.

Today this isn’t happening to us, but it will be.

Such people returned to life in order to finish life righteously; but will we return? God knows....

We will not read of the terrors Uekskuell experienced in trying to draw attention to himself. The world beyond the grave almost touches ours, it seems just a fraction of a millimeter away; but we don’t entirely come together. And this isn’t the only such incident....

I myself have heard of a man, who is still alive today, who experienced clinical death; people thought he was dead, but after his clinical death he told them everything they had said, and how they moved, in all details.

Man is not only this body, matter, dust; man is composed of body and soul. And the soul does not die like the body; it sees and knows everything....

Is there life after death or not? In the end, all this is taken on faith. That there is life there, we accept on faith; that there is no life there, we also accept on faith. But in order to say for sure, as the boy (mentioned above) says ... one must go there. And as long as we have not gone, some have faith, from which they rejoice and do good deeds; while others, just like the demons, believe and tremble. Unbelievers all tremble before the face of death, and no matter how many medicines there might be, no matter how long one might prolong earthly life, you still will not escape death. One can escape death only through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.