Prologue in Sermons: March 11

In What State After Death Are the Souls of Sinners, and in What State the Souls of the Righteous

March 11

(Instruction of the Holy Fathers concerning the need of death.)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

In what state after death are the souls of sinners, and in what state those of the righteous?

What shall be said about this?

Let us anticipate, brethren, says the word of the Church, our death by repentance and let us hasten to it before the end, for our life is short in time, but the torment is long. The end is near and the fear is great, and there is no one there who forgives. Consider in what a terrible condition the sinners are in hades. While living on earth, they forgot the fear of God and did not fulfill the commandments. And now, in hades, what then? They ask God for even the smallest relief, but they do not receive it and in the lower parts of the earth they weep. They remember their sins: sloth, gluttony, fleshly sins, and various evil deeds, and they repent of them, but they do not receive forgiveness, for after death there is no repentance.

Prologue in Sermons: January 17

The State of the Soul After Separation From the Body

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.