Prologue in Sermons: December 31

It is Not Right to Judge a Person’s Afterlife by the Condition of the Body After Death

December 31
 
(A Saying From the Paterikon About a Certain Holy Elderly Woman and Ascetic)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

When someone dies, some of the ignorant judge the state of that person’s soul by whether the body has decomposed or not before burial. If it has remained intact, they think that such a person pleased God; but if otherwise, they are convinced that the deceased angered God and must go to hell. That those who judge in this way are mistaken is shown by the following account of Venerable Ammon concerning a certain holy elderly woman and ascetic.

“I knew,” he says, “a holy hermitess who spent a very long time withdrawn from the world in fasting and prayer. Once, in answer to my question as to what had caused her to part from the world, she replied thus:

‘My father,’ she began, ‘was a quiet, gentle, just, and taciturn man, so that those who saw him for the first time thought he was mute. He was sickly: from time to time he worked the land, but for the most part he lay in bed. My mother, on the contrary, was sharp-tongued; she constantly quarreled with everyone, drank heavily, defiled herself with fornication, and yet, despite all this, she was always healthy and from her birth until her final illness did not know what sickness was.

But then death came to them both. First my father died, and because of the bad weather at that time his body decayed so badly that foolish neighbors considered him, on that account, a great sinner, called him an enemy of God, and with reluctance committed him to the earth. When my mother died, however, her body was preserved; the weather was good, and her burial was carried out with honor.

One evening after their deaths I pondered how I should live. I asked myself: should I live as my father did, or as my mother? If I follow in my father’s footsteps, what kind of life would that be? Neither in life did he see joy, nor after death was he buried as people are. My mother, however, lived joyfully and was buried with honor — so I will live as she did.

Then another thought came to me: how good it would be to see with my own eyes where their souls are now and which of them fares better beyond the grave! With such thoughts I fell asleep. In my dream there appeared before me a terrible, tall man, who angrily asked, “What do you think of yourself?” From terror I could not utter a word. He asked me the same question again — I was silent once more. Then he himself revealed to me what I had been thinking and, taking me by the hand, said, “Come with me; I will show you where your father is and where your mother is. After that, imitate the way of life of whichever you choose.”

And so he set me in a vast field, across which were spread many gardens with beautiful trees laden with fruit, and there, amid unimaginable bliss, I met my father. He embraced and kissed me. I fell at his feet and begged him to let me remain with him. But he answered me, “That cannot be done now, my child; but if you follow my example in life, then after a short time you will dwell here.”

After this, the one who had appeared again took me and said, “Now go and see where your mother is, and then you will understand whether you should choose her life or your father’s as your model.” And then I saw a burning furnace, and in it was my mother. When she saw me, she began to cry out to me: “Woe is me, my child, because of my deeds! Woe to me, tormented for my sins! An unexpected evil has befallen me! Help me, my daughter, give me your hand and lead me out of here, and do not despise the supplication of your mother!”

I was greatly frightened, and from fear I awoke. It is clear that after this I had to follow in my father’s footsteps, which I did.'”

Know, my brethren, that according to the body we all — whoever we may be, both righteous and sinners — are earth, and to earth we shall all return. All must be subject to the law of corruption, to decompose, or, as you put it, to spoil — some sooner, like the father of the aforementioned ascetic, others later. Therefore one cannot judge a person’s fate by the condition of the body. True, at times God glorifies His saints by the incorruption of their bodies. But this happens very rarely. Moreover, the matter is not in incorruption alone, but especially in miracles; only in conjunction with them can it serve as a sign of glorification by God.

If, however, the bodies of sinners long do not decay, to judge their fate by this is just as unfounded as to deny the glorification of many saints of God whose bodies did decay. If one were to judge in this way, it would follow that nowadays there are no saved people at all, but only the perishing. Therefore, if anyone judges the fate of a soul by the condition of the deceased’s body, let him abandon this crude superstition. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.