The State of the Soul After Separation From the Body
January 17
(Commemoration of our Venerable Father Anthony the Great)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
January 17
(Commemoration of our Venerable Father Anthony the Great)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
In the Prologue, in the brief account of the life of Saint Anthony the Great, it is mentioned, among other things, that he received from God the gift of seeing what happens to the soul of a person after it is separated from the body. This is expressed in the account as follows:
“Anthony, while yet in the mortal body, beheld, when a soul departed from the body, the very ascents of the soul and the demons who oppose them, which is proper to the noetic and bodiless nature.”
What does this mean, brethren? What happens to the soul of a person after it is separated from the body? And what are the “ascents of the soul”? And how should we understand the expression “demons opposing”? Let us speak about this for our edification.
According to the teaching of Makarios of Alexandria, the following happens to the soul after it is separated from the body:
“For two days the soul is permitted, together with the Angels who are with it, to walk upon the earth wherever it wishes. Therefore, the soul that loves the body sometimes wanders around the tomb in which the body has been laid, sometimes around the house in which it was separated from the body; and thus it spends two days, seeking like a bird a nest for itself. But the virtuous soul goes to those places where it was accustomed to perform righteous deeds.
On the third day, in imitation of His Resurrection, God commands every Christian soul to ascend to the heavens to worship Him. After this, it is commanded that the soul be shown the various pleasant dwellings of the Saints and the beauty of Paradise. The soul contemplates all this for six days; and during this time it changes and forgets the sorrow it had in the body. But if it is guilty of sins, then at the sight of the delight of the Saints it begins to grieve and to reproach itself with various accusations.
After contemplating, for six days, all the joy of the righteous, it is again borne by the Angels to worship God. After this second worship, the Lord of all commands that the soul be led to Hades and shown the places of torment there. Through these various places of torment the soul is carried for thirty days, trembling lest it itself be condemned to confinement there. On the fortieth day it is again brought up to worship God, and then the Judge assigns to it the place befitting its deeds.”
What are the ascents of the soul? In connection with what has been said, the ascents of the soul should be understood as follows: Saint Cyril of Alexandria, in his discourse on the departure of the soul, writes that the soul, after being separated from the body, “is held by the holy Angels, passing through the air, and as it is raised up it encounters the toll-houses, which guard the air and hinder the ascending souls,” and further, in that discourse, he enumerates in detail all the toll-houses. These words of Saint Cyril constitute the explanation of the expression “ascents of the soul.”
Now it remains to explain the expression “demons opposing.” We find an explanation of these words in the Life of Saint Theodora. “From where,” she asked the Angels who accompanied her in her journey through the toll-houses, “do the aerial powers know all the deeds of human beings, not only those that are manifest, but also those that are secret?” "Every Christian," replied the Holy Angels, "from Holy Baptism receives from God a Guardian Angel, who invisibly guards the person and instructs him day and night in every good deed, observing all the good works that he performs in this life. In the same way, the prince of darkness, wishing to destroy the whole human race, assigns one of the evil spirits, who follows a person everywhere, notes all his evil deeds, incites him to them by his wiles, and gathers up every evil committed by the person. When the soul is separated from the body and when its striving toward its Creator begins, then the evil spirits endeavor to hinder it by revealing its sins before it." Thus, the expression “demons opposing” means demons who lay snares, demons who hinder the soul from ascending to its Creator.
Thus, brethren, what God granted Saint Anthony to see of the world beyond the grave is now clear to us. But let us add on our own behalf that it is not only clear, but also very instructive for us. For, first, it teaches us to remember that, besides the General Judgment, there is also a Particular Judgment, which is carried out individually over each person immediately after the soul departs from the body, that is, immediately after death. Second, it teaches us not to forget that after death “we have a fearful and dreadful place to pass through when separated from the body, and a multitude of dark and inhuman demons will meet us” (Prayer after the 4th kathisma of the Psalter). And third, finally, it teaches us to keep continually before our minds that greatest truth: that God exists, that there is a future life, and that there is recompense after death. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
