The Soul After Death

CHAPTER THREE Appearances of Angels and Demons at the Hour of Death

In these experiences the newly-deceased is usually met by two angels. This is how the author of “Unbelievable for Many” describes them: “Hardly had the old nurse uttered these words (‘May he inherit the Kingdom of Heaven!’), than two angels appeared at my side; for some reason in one of them I recognized my Guardian Angel, but the other was unknown to me” (p. 22). (Later a pious wanderer told him that this was the “meeting angel.”) St. Theodora, whose journey after death through the aerial “toll-houses” is related in the Life of St. Basil the New (10th century, March 26), related that “when I was at the end of my strength, I suddenly saw two radiant angels of God, who were like splendid youths of inexpressible beauty. Their faces were brighter than the sun, their gaze was full of love, the hair of their head was white like snow, around their head a golden radiance was poured out, their garments glistened like lightning and were girded about the chest with golden sashes in cross-form” (see translation in Eternal Mysteries Beyond the Grave, p. 70). The 6th-century bishop of Gaul, St. Salvius, thus describes his own death experience: “When my cell shook four days ago, and you saw me lying dead, I was raised up by two angels and carried to the highest peak of heaven” (St. Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, VII, 1; see the life of St. Salvius in The Orthodox Word, 1977, no. 5).

The mission of these angels is to take the soul of the newly-reposed on its journey into the afterlife. There is nothing vague about them, either in appearance or action; having a human appearance, they firmly grasp the “subtle body” of the soul and conduct it away. “The light-bearing angels immediately took my soul in their arms” (St. Theodora, see Eternal Mysteries, p. 71).

“Having taken me by the arms, the angels carried me right through the wall of the ward ...” (“Unbelievable for Many,” p. 22). St. Salvius was “raised up by two angels.” Such examples could be multiplied.

It cannot be asserted, therefore, that the “being of light” in today’s experiences — who has no visible form, who does not conduct the soul anywhere, who stops to engage the soul in dialogue and shows “flashbacks” of one’s past life — is a guiding angel of the afterlife. Not every being that appears as an angel is such in fact, for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light (II Cor. 11:14); and so these beings without even the appearance of angels can certainly not be identified as such. Unmistakable encounters with angels seem almost never to occur in today’s “after-death” experiences — for a reason we shall attempt to explain below.

Is it possible, then, that the “being of light” is actually a demon masquerading as a formless “angel of light” in order to tempt the dying even at the moment when the soul is leaving the body? Dr. Moody (Life after Life, pp. 107-8; Reflections, pp. 58-60) and other investigators actually raise this question, only to dismiss the possibility as not in harmony with the “good” results the apparition produces in the dying. To be sure, the views of “evil” of such investigators are naive in the extreme; Dr. Moody thinks that “Satan would presumably tell his servants to follow a course of hate and destruction” (Life after Life, p. 108) and seems to be totally unaware of the Christian literature which describes the actual nature of demonic temptations, which invariably are presented to their victims as something “good.”

What, then, is the Orthodox teaching about demonic temptations at the hour of death? St. Basil the Great, in his interpretation of the words of the Psalm, Save me from them that persecute me, and do Thou deliver me lest at any time like a lion he seize my soul (Ps. 7:1-2), offers this explanation: “I think that the noble athletes of God who have wrestled considerably with the invisible enemies during the whole of their lives, after they have escaped all of their persecutions and reached the end of their life, are examined by the prince of this world in order that, if they are found to have wounds from wrestling or any stains or effects of sin, they may be detained. But, if they are found unwounded and sinless, they may be brought by Christ into their rest as being unconquered and free. Therefore, the Prophet prays both for his life here and for his future life.

Here he says: Save me from them that persecute me, and there, at the time of trial: Deliver me, lest at any time like a lion he seize my soul. And this you can learn from the Lord Himself, Who before His suffering said: Now the prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in Me (John 14:30)” (St. Basil, Exegetic Homilies, Catholic University of America Press, 1963, pp. 167-68).1

Indeed, it is not only Christian strugglers who have to face the testing by demons at the hour of death. St. John Chrysostom, in his Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, vividly describes what often happens to ordinary sinners at their death. “Most persons may be then heard relating horrors, and fearful visions, the spectacle of which the dying are unable to endure, but often shake their very bed with great power, gaze fearfully on the bystanders, the soul urging itself inwards, unwilling to be torn away from the body, and unable to bear the sight of the approaching angels. If human beings that are frightful strike terror into us beholding them, when we see angels threatening, and stern powers, among our visitors, what shall we not suffer, the soul being forced from the body, and dragged away, and bewailing much, all in vain?” (Homily 53 on St. Matthew, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Eerdmans edition, 1973, vol. 10, pp. 331-32.)

The Orthodox Lives of Saints have numerous accounts of such demonic spectacles which appear at the moment of death, usually with the aim of frightening the dying person and making him despair over his salvation. St. Gregory in his Dialogues, for example, tells of a certain rich man who was a slave to numerous passions: “A short time before he died, he saw hideous spirits standing before him, threatening fiercely to carry him to the depths of hell…. The entire family gathered round, weeping and lamenting. Though they could not actually see the evil spirits and their horrible attacks, they could tell from the sick man’s own declarations, from the pallor on his face and from this trembling body, that the evil spirits were present. In mortal terror of these horrible images, he kept tossing from side to side on his bed.... And now, nearly worn out and despairing of any relief, he shouted, ‘Give me time until morning! Hold off at least until morning!’ With that his life was snatched away” (Dialogues IV, 40, pp. 245-46). St. Gregory reports other similar incidents, as does Bede in his History of the English Church and People (Book V, Chs. 13, 15). Even in 19th- century America such experiences were not at all uncommon; a recent anthology contains numerous 19th-century death-bed visions of unrepentant sinners with such titles as “I am in the flames — pull me out!”, “Oh save me! They drag me down!”, “I am going to hell!”, and “The devil is coming to drag my soul down to hell!” (John Myers, Voices from the Edge of Eternity, Spire Books, Old Tappan, N.J., 1973, pp. 71, 109, 167, 196, etc.)

Dr. Moody however, records nothing whatsoever like this: virtually all the experiences of the dying in his book (with the notable exception of suicides, see pp. 127-28) are pleasant ones, whether the people are Christian or non-Christian, religious or not. Drs. Osis and Haraldsson, on the other hand, found something not too far from this experience in their studies.

These researchers found, in their American study, the same results as Dr. Moody: the apparition of other-worldly visitors is seen to be something positive, the patient accepts death, the experience is pleasant, causing serenity or elation and often the cessation of pain before dying. In the Indian study, however, fully one-third of the patients who saw apparitions have an experience of fear, depression and anxiety resulting from the apparition of the “yamdoots” (Hindu messengers of death) or other beings; these Indians resist and try to escape the other-worldly messengers. Thus in one experience, an Indian clerical worker related as he was dying: “ ‘Someone is standing there! He has a cart with him so he must be a yamdoot! He must be taking someone with him. He is teasing me that he is going to take me! ... Please hold me; I am not going.’ His pain increased and he died” (At the Hour of Death, p. 90). One dying Hindu “suddenly said: ‘Yamdoot is coming to take me away. Take me down from the bed so that Yamdoot does not find me.’ He pointed outwards and upwards. ‘There he is.’ This hospital room was on a ground floor. Outside, at the wall of the building, there was a large tree with a great number of crows sitting on its branches. Just as the patient had his vision, all the crows suddenly flew away from the tree with much noise, as if someone had fired a gun. We were very surprised by this and ran outside through an open door in the room, but we saw nothing that might have disturbed the crows. They were usually peaceful, so it was very memorable to all of us present when the crows flew away with a great uproar, exactly at the time the patient had his vision. It was as if they, too, had become aware of something terrible. As this happened, the patient fell into a coma and expired a few minutes later” (pp. 41-42). Some “yamdoots” have a fearful appearance and cause even more consternation in the dying.

This is the most striking difference between the American and the Indian experience of dying in the study of Drs. Osis and Haraldsson, but the authors can give no explanation for it. One naturally wonders: Why is the modern American experience almost totally lacking in an element — the fear produced by frightful other-worldly apparitions — so common both in the Christian experience of the past and the present-day Indian experience?

It is not necessary for us to define precisely the nature of the apparitions of the dying in order to see that they depend to some extent, as we have already seen on what the dying person expects or is prepared to see. Thus, Christians of past centuries who had a lively belief in hell, and whose conscience accused them in the end, often saw demons at death; Indians of today, who are certainly more “primitive” than Americans in their beliefs and understanding, often see beings that correspond to their still very real fears about the afterlife; while contemporary Americans, with their “enlightened” views, see apparitions in harmony with their “comfortable” life and beliefs, which in general do not include a very realistic fear of hell or awareness of demons.

On the objective side, the demons themselves offer temptations which accord with the spiritual state or expectations of those being tempted. For those who fear hell, the demons may appear in terrible forms in order to make a person die in a state of despair; but for those who do not believe in hell (or for Protestants who believe they are infallibly “saved” and therefore need not fear hell) the demons would naturally offer temptations in some other form that would not so clearly expose their evil intent. Likewise, even to a Christian struggler who has already suffered much, the demons may appear in such a way as to seduce him rather than frighten him.

The demonic temptations that beset St. Maura, the 3rd-century martyr, as she was dying, offer a good example of this latter kind of temptation at the hour of death. After being crucified for nine days together with her husband, St. Timothy, she was tempted by the devil. The Life of these saints tells how St. Maura herself related her temptations to her husband and fellow-martyr:

“Take courage, my brother, and banish sleep from yourself. Be vigilant and know what I have seen; it seemed to me that before me, when I was in a kind of ecstasy, was a man who had in his hand a cup filled with milk and honey. This man said to me ‘Take this and drink.’ But I said to him: ‘Who are you?’ And he replied: ‘I am an angel of God.’ Then I said to him: ‘Let us pray to the Lord.’ Then he said to me: ‘I have come to you in order to ease your sufferings. I saw that you greatly desired to eat and drink, since until this moment you have not eaten any food.’ Then I said to him: ‘Who inspired you to show me this mercy? And what do my patience and fasting matter to you? Do you not know that God is mighty to do what is impossible to men?’ When I prayed, I saw that this man turned his face away toward the west. From this I understood that this was a satanic deception; Satan wished to tempt us even on the cross. Soon after this the vision vanished.

“Then another man came up to me, and it seemed to me that he brought me to a river flowing with milk and honey, and he said to me: ‘Drink.’ But I replied: ‘I have already told you that I will not drink either water or any other earthly drink until I shall drink the cup of death for Christ my Lord, which He Himself will mix for me with the salvation and immortality of eternal life.’ When I had said this, that man drank from the river, and suddenly he himself and the river with him disappeared” (Lives of Saints, in Russian, May 3; see English translation in J. A. M. Fastre, S.J., The Acts of the Early Martyrs, Fifth Series, Philadelphia, 1878, pp. 227-28). The third apparition to St. Maura, that of a true angel, will be quoted later in this study; but here already it is clear what caution true Christians have in accepting “revelations” at the time of death.

The hour of death, then, is indeed a time of demonic temptation, and the “spiritual experiences” which people have at this time (even if they seem to be “after” death — a point yet to be discussed below) are to be subjected to the same standard of Christian teaching as are any other “spiritual experiences.” Likewise, the “spirits” who may be encountered at this time are to be subjected to the universal test which the Apostle John expresses in the words: Test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world (I John 4:1).

Some critics of today’s “after-death” experiences have already pointed out the similarity of the “being of light” to the “spirit guides” and “spirit friends” of mediumistic spiritism. Let us therefore look briefly at the spiritistic teaching where it talks about “beings of light” and their messages. One standard spiritistic text (J. Arthur Hill, Spiritualism, Its History; Phenomena and Doctrine, George H. Doran Co., New York, 1919), notes that “the spirits’ teaching is always or practically always in line with high moral standards; in the matter of belief it is always theistic, always reverent, but not much concerned with intellectual niceties such as occupied the minds of Bishops in Church Councils” (p. 235). Further, this book states that love is the “key-note” and “central doctrine” of spiritistic teaching (p. 283); that “glorious knowledge” is received from the spirits, causing spiritists to undertake the missionary labor of spreading “the knowledge that life after death is a certainty” (pp. 185-86); and that the “advanced” spirits lose the “limitations” of personality and become more like “influences” than persons, becoming more and more full of “light” (pp. 300-301). Indeed, spiritists in their hymns literally invoke “beings of light”:

All of this is enough to make one quite suspicious of the “being of light” who is now appearing to people who are quite unaware of the nature and subtlety of the workings of demons. Our suspicion is only increased when we hear Dr. Moody report that some describe this being as “a fun person” with “a sense of humor” who gives the dying person “a good time” and “fun” (Life After Life, pp. 49, 51). Such a being, with his message of “love and understanding,” does indeed sound remarkably like the trivial and often good-humored “spirits” at seances, who are unquestionably demons (when the seance itself is not fraudulent).

This fact has led some to condemn the whole “after-death” experience now being reported as a demonic deception. One book, by evangelical Protestants, declares that “we feel that there are certain new and unfamiliar dangers to this whole life-after-death deception. Believing even vaguely in the reported clinical experiences, we feel, can have serious consequences for Bible-believing people. More than one sincere Christian has totally bought the fact that the Being of Light is none other than Jesus Christ and, unfortunately, these people are in a perfect position to be fooled” (John Weldon and Zola Levitt, Is There Life After Death? Harvest House Publishers, Irvine, Calif. 1977, p. 76). To back up this point, the authors of this book cite some remarkable parallels between some of today’s “after-death” experiences and the experiences of mediums and occultists in recent times, in addition to pointing out the undoubted fact that a number of researchers in “after-death” experiences are also interested in the occult and even have had contact with mediums (pp. 64-70).

There is, of course, much truth in these observations. Unfortunately, without the full Christian teaching on life after death, even the most well-meaning “Bible-believing people” go astray, dismissing the true experiences of the soul after death together with experiences that may indeed be demonic deceptions. Such people themselves are open to the acceptance of misleading “after-death” experiences, as we shall see.

Drs. Osis and Haraldsson, who both have had “extensive firsthand experience with mediums,” note some similarity between the apparitions of the dying and the experiences of spiritism. However, they note a basic “glaring discrepancy” between these two kinds of experience: “Instead of a continuation of the mundane sort of life (which mediums describe), postmortem survival appears to plunge into a radically new mode of existence and way of experiencing” (At the Hour of Death, p. 200). Indeed, the realm of “after-death” experiences does seem on the whole to be quite distinct from the realm of ordinary mediumism and spiritism; but it is still a realm in which demonic deceptions and suggestions are not only possible, but are positively to be expected, especially in the latter days in which we live, when we are already seeing ever newer and more subtle spiritual temptations, even great signs and wonders, so as to seduce, if possible, even the elect (Matt. 24:24).

It befits us, therefore, to be very suspicious (at the least) of the “beings of light” who seem to appear in the moment of death. They seem very much like demons posing as “angels of light” in order to seduce, not only the dying person himself, but even more those to whom he will later tell this tale if he is resuscitated (concerning the chances of which, of course, the demons are well aware).

Ultimately, however, our judgment of this and the other “after-death” phenomena will have to rest on the doctrine which emerges from them, whether given by some “spiritual being” seen in the moment of death, or simply implied by or deduced from the phenomena. We shall approach the question of this judgment after our examination of the phenomena themselves is finished.

Some people who have “died” and returned — usually those who are or become the most “religious” — have identified the “being of light” which they encounter not as an angel, but as the invisible “presence” of Christ Himself. In such people this experience is often bound up with another phenomenon which for Orthodox Christians is perhaps, at first glance, the most puzzling one to be encountered in today’s “after-death” experience: the vision of “heaven.”