Prologue in Sermons: March 28

Where the Souls of Sinners Are After Their Separation from the Body

March 28

(A Discourse about a certain soldier, named Taxiotis, who rose from the dead.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

Where, brethren, are the souls of sinners after their separation from their bodies? Let us speak about this for our edification.

There was in the city of Carthage a certain man, named Taxiotis, who lived a sinful life. Once, a pestilence struck Carthage, from which many people were dying. Taxiotis turned to God and repented of his sins. Leaving the city, he withdrew with his wife to a certain village, where he remained, spending his time in meditation on God.

After some time, he fell into sin with the wife of a farmer; but a few days later, he was bitten by a snake and died.

Not far from that place stood a monastery; the wife of Taxiotis went to this monastery and begged the monks to come, take the body of the deceased, and bury it in the church; and they buried him at the third hour of the day. When the ninth hour came, a loud cry was heard from the grave: “Have mercy, have mercy on me!” The monks, approaching the grave and hearing the cry of the one buried, immediately dug it up and found Taxiotis alive. In terror, they were amazed and asked him what had happened to him. But Taxiotis, because of intense weeping, could not tell them anything and only asked to be taken to Bishop Tarasios; and he was taken to him. The bishop urged him for three days to tell him what he had seen there, but only on the fourth day did Taxiotis begin to speak and recounted the following:

“When I was dying, I saw certain Ethiopians standing before me; their appearance was terrible, and my soul was troubled. Then I saw two young men, very beautiful; my soul hastened toward them, and immediately, as if rising from the earth, we began to ascend toward heaven, encountering on the way the toll-houses, which held back the soul of every man and examined each concerning a particular sin: one concerning falsehood, another concerning envy, another concerning pride; thus every sin in the air has its examiners.

And I saw in a chest, held by angels, all my good deeds, which the angels compared with my evil deeds. Thus we passed these toll-houses. But when, approaching the heavenly gates, we came to the toll-house of fornication, the guards detained me there and began to show all my carnal acts of fornication, committed by me from my youth until my death. And the angels who were leading me said to me: ‘All the bodily sins that you committed while you were in the city God has forgiven you, since you repented of them.’ But the opposing spirits said to me: ‘But when you left the city, you committed sin in the field with the wife of your farmer.’ Hearing this, the angels found no good deed that could be set against that sin, and, leaving me, they departed.

Then the evil spirits, taking me, began to beat me and then led me downward; the earth opened, and I, being led through narrow passages and dark and foul-smelling crevices, descended to the very depths of the prisons of Hades, where in eternal darkness the souls of sinners are confined, where there is no life for men, but only eternal torment, inconsolable weeping, and unspeakable gnashing of teeth. There a desperate cry is always heard: ‘Woe to us, alas, alas!’ And it is impossible to describe all the sufferings there; it is impossible to recount all the torments and pains that I saw. They groan from the depth of their souls, and no one shows them mercy; they weep, and there is no one to comfort them; they beg, and there is no one who hears them or delivers them.

And I was shut up in those dark places, full of terrible sorrow, and I wept and bitterly lamented from the third hour to the ninth. Then I saw a small light and two angels who had come there; I earnestly began to entreat them to bring me out of that miserable place, that I might repent before God. The angels said to me: ‘In vain you pray — no one departs from here until the time of the general resurrection.’ But since I continued to ask and implore them fervently and promised to repent of my sins, one angel said to the other: ‘Do you stand surety for him, that he will repent with all his heart, as he promises?’ The other said: ‘I stand surety.’ Then he gave him his hand.

Then they led me out of there to the earth and brought me to the grave where my body lay, and said to me: ‘Enter into that from which you were separated.’ And I saw that my soul shone like a pearl, while the dead body was like dirt, black and emitting a foul odor; therefore I did not wish to enter into it. The angels said to me: ‘It is impossible for you to repent without the body with which you committed sins.’ But I begged them that I might not enter the body. ‘Enter,’ said the angels, ‘otherwise we will take you back to where we brought you from.’ Then I entered, came to life, and began to cry out: ‘Have mercy on me!’”

Then Saint Tarasios said to him: “Take food.” But he did not wish to eat; instead, going from church to church, he fell down prostrate and, with tears and deep sighing, confessed his sins and said to all: “Woe to sinners: eternal torment awaits them; woe to those who do not repent while they have time; woe to those who defile their bodies!” After his resurrection, Taxiotis lived forty days and purified himself through repentance; three days beforehand he foresaw his end and departed to the Merciful and Philanthropic God, who brings down to Hades and grants salvation to all, to whom be glory unto the ages.

Therefore, God lives, there is a future life, and terrible are the torments of sinners. And — oh, take heed, sinners: may it never happen that you also cry out, "Have mercy on me, have mercy on me!" And may it never happen that you also hear the voice of Abraham: “Between us and you a great gulf is fixed, so that those who would pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us” (Luke 16:26)! Therefore pray that the Lord may grant you repentance before the end, and amend your life while it is not too late. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.