10/07/2024
The soul of the dying man is taken out of the human body (from the mouth) by Archangel Michael, when Lord orders, while the guardian angel of the man stays honorary, beside the dead body till the burial.
It is supreme honor for us Orthodox, Christ to have ordered the chief of angels, Archangel Michael, to take our souls. This is only for the Orthodox.
Archangel Michael delivers the soul in other angels’ hands that take it and depart for toll. The soul goes through toll houses for three days. Not everybody goes through toll houses. The confessed ones pass the toll demons fast like a bullet.
Through the toll houses go the people with unconfessed sins. If there is an unconfessed sin, lighter than a deadly, is balanced with the good deeds, the good deeds win and the soul proceeds to the next toll house, until it reaches our Christ.
But if a soul, in some toll house has a deadly sin unconfessed, this very time goes to hell.
People go to hell mainly in the toll house: a) of witchcraft Satanism and b) fornication.
When the three days end and the soul has gone through the toll houses, is driven by the angel to the human nature of Christ, for His Deity cannot be seen. The soul sees Christ who has the image that has in the Icons. Christ has no other image.
As it is known, on the third day, Church as a loving mother, brings the kolyva, (boiled wheat), of the third day. Those third days’s kolyva are in front of the Lord, when the soul bows before Christ. Each wheat of the kolyva, is prayers of those who pray for this soul.
After the soul bows before Christ, Christ blesses it without saying anything. God doesn’t announce a decision, but the soul by intuition knows, that because it has passed the tollhouses is saved, but it waits for the confirmation of its salvation.
The angel then takes the soul and in no time brings it back to Earth! He takes it to the places where it was born, grew up, making the tour of its whole life.
The soul will remember details, that had completely forgotten and the good and bad deeds and all the sins it committed (confessed and not confessed). It is then that the soul realizes by experience, that Christ is everywhere and knows everything.
That travel of the soul on earth lasts from the third till the ninth day.
On the ninth day the angel takes the soul and again presents it to Christ for it to bow before Him and we now bring the kolyva of the ninth day, with which the Church and the believers pray for mercy for this soul.
Christ blesses the soul but doesn’t announce the decision. From the ninth day and on, the bigger part of the surprises begins.
The angel takes the soul and drives it to paradise. The soul will be seeing paradise from ninth till 24th day.
But it won’t be able to speak to anyone and it will be like seeing some people that are at the other side of an impenetrable transparent glass. The soul will only see but won’t be able to communicate neither hear what is going on in paradise.
On the 25th day the angel takes the soul to hades and the same happens there. There is a impenetrable transparent glass and it only sees without communicating. The sad thing will be, when the soul sees there some of its beloved people.
There in hades, only the obscurity (the bottom of hell) wont anyone be able to see. And on the 40th day (we start counting as first day the day of death) the soul again bows to Christ and Christ announces where the soul will go for eternity.
For this The Church brings the kolyva of the 40thday, which are the most important.
In that way, the soul will have the experience of all spiritual world, and will know that everything indeed exists and nothing is a fairytale.
Elder Efrem of the skete of Saint Andreas.
