What happens to a person’s soul after death? This question is one of the main ones that compels a person to turn to the teachings of the Orthodox Church and to look for such an exciting answer in him. Despite the fact that there are no strict dogmas regarding the posthumous path to God, there is a tradition among believers of the special commemoration of the deceased on the third, ninth and fortieth day. Such a situation is not recognized by the Church as a doctrine norm, but at the same time it is not in dispute. What is it based on?
On the threshold of eternity
Understanding the meaning of life by each individual person and what he fills it with, largely depends on his attitude to his future demise. This aspect is extremely important: does he wait for her approach, believing that a new stage of being awaits the soul after death, or is he afraid, perceiving the end of earthly existence as the threshold of eternal darkness into which he is destined to plunge?
According to the teaching given to people by Jesus Christ, bodily death does not lead to the complete disappearance of a person as a person. Having passed the stage of his temporary earthly existence, he gains eternal life, the preparation for which is the true purpose of his stay in the perishable world. Thus, earthly death becomes for man a day of his birth in Eternity and the beginning of ascension to the throne of the Most High. How exactly this path will turn out for him, and what a meeting with the heavenly Father will bring him, completely depends on how he spent his earthly days.
In this regard, it is appropriate to note that the Orthodox doctrine contains such a concept as “mortal memory”, which implies a person's constant awareness of the brevity of his earthly existence and the expectation of a transition to the other world. In a true Christian, it is in this state of mind that all actions and thoughts are determined. Not the accumulation of the riches of the perishable world, which he will inevitably lose after his death, but the fulfillment of God's commandments, opening the gates to the kingdom of heaven, is the meaning of his life.
Third day after death
Starting a conversation about what happens to the soul after death, and considering the main stages following the death of a person, we will focus first on the third day, which, as a rule, is the funeral and special commemoration of the deceased. This countdown has a deep meaning, since it is spiritually connected with the three-day resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ and symbolizes the victory of life over death.
In addition, the third day comprises the personification of the faith of the deceased and his relatives in the Holy Trinity, as well as their recognition of the three gospel virtues - faith, hope and love. And finally, three days are set as the first stage of a person’s stay beyond the limits of his earthly being, because all his deeds, words and thoughts during his life were determined by three internal abilities, including reason, feelings and will. It is not for nothing that during the memorial service commemorated on this day, a prayer is offered for the remission of the deceased's sins committed "by word, deed and thought."
There is another explanation of the reason why it was the third day that was chosen for the special remembrance of the deceased. According to the revelation of St. Macarius of Alexandria, a heavenly angel, telling him what happens to the soul after death, said that during the first three days she invisibly stays in places connected with her earthly life. Often the soul is found near the home or where the body left by it is located. Wandering like a bird that has lost its nest, she experiences incredible suffering, and only church commemoration, accompanied by the reading of prayers established for this occasion, brings her relief.
Ninth day after death
An equally important stage for the human soul after death is the ninth day. According to the same angelic revelation set forth in the writings of Macarius of Alexandria, after a three-day stay in places related to earthly life, the soul is elevated by angels to heaven to worship the Lord, and after that it contemplates the holy paradise cloisters for six days.
At the sight of the bliss that has become the inheritance of the righteous in the kingdom of God, she glorifies the creator and forgets the sorrows that befell her in the earthly vale. But at the same time, what he saw encourages the soul to deeply and sincerely repent of the sins committed by it on a thorny and full of temptations life path. She begins to rebuke herself, bitterly lamenting: “Alas, to me many-sinful and not happy about her salvation!”
Having been in the kingdom of God for six days, filled with contemplation of heavenly bliss, the soul again ascends to worship at the foot of the throne of the Most High. Here she praises the creator of the world and prepares for the next stage of her posthumous wanderings. On this day, which is the ninth after death, relatives and friends of the deceased order a memorial service in the church, after which they all come together for a memorial meal. A characteristic feature of the prayers offered on this day is the petition contained in them that the soul of the deceased should be honored to be appended to one of the nine ranks of the angels.
The sacred meaning of number 40
Since time immemorial, crying for the deceased and prayers for the repose of his soul have continued for forty days. Why was such a time interval set? The answer to this question can be found in the Holy Scriptures, opening which, it is not difficult to verify that the number forty is often found on its pages and contains a sacred meaning.
For example, in the Old Testament you can read that, having delivered his people from Egyptian slavery and going to the Promised Land, the prophet Moses drove him through the wilderness for forty years, and during the same period the sons of Israel ate manna from heaven. For forty days and nights, their leader fasted before accepting the law established by God on Mount Sinai, and the prophet Elijah spent the same time traveling to Mount Horeb.
In the New Testament, the pages of the Holy Gospel say that Jesus Christ, having been baptized in the waters of the Jordan River, went to the wilderness, where for forty days and nights he remained in fasting and prayer, and after resurrection from the dead forty days remained among his disciples, before than ascended to his heavenly father. Thus, the belief that the soul, up to 40 days after death, follows a special path, destined by the creator, is based on the biblical tradition, originating from the Old Testament times.
Forty days spent in hell
The ancient Jewish custom of mourning the dead for forty days after their death was legalized by the closest disciples and followers of Jesus Christ - the holy apostles, after which he became one of the traditions of the Church founded by him. Since then, it has been customary to perform a special prayer daily throughout this period, called the “Magpie”, to which on the last day - “Magpies” - an unusually gracious power is attributed.
Just as Jesus Christ, after forty days filled with fasting and prayers, defeated the devil, so did the Church founded by him, performing the same service for the deceased, doing alms and making bloodless sacrifices, asking him for grace from the Lord God. This is what allows the soul after death to withstand the onslaught of the air prince of darkness and inherit the kingdom of heaven.
It is very significant that Macarius of Alexandria describes the state of the soul of the deceased after secondary worship of the Creator. According to the revelation that he received from the lips of an angel, the Lord commands his disembodied servants to cast her into the abyss of hell and there to show all the innumerable torments that sinners undergo, who did not bring proper repentance during the days of earthly life. In these gloomy depths, filled with moaning and crying, the wanderer, having lost her body, remains for thirty days and constantly trembles from the fact that she herself may be among these unfortunate, doomed to eternal suffering.
At the throne of the great judge
But we will leave the kingdom of eternal darkness and follow further what happens to the soul. 40 days after death culminate in the most important event determining the nature of the posthumous being of the deceased. There comes a time when the soul, mourned for three days by its earthly haven, then granted a nine-day stay in paradise and forty days of seclusion in the depths of hell, is for the third time offered by the angels to worship the Lord. Thus, the soul after death and until the 40th day is on the road, and then it awaits a "private court". This term is used to denote the most important stage of posthumous life, in which, according to earthly affairs, its fate will be determined for the entire remaining period, until the second coming of Christ to earth.
The Lord makes his decision about where the soul is destined to stay after death awaiting the final judgment, based on its intravital state and location. A decisive role is played by the preferences given to her during her stay in the mortal body. In other words, the decision of the judge depends on the choice of the person to whom she belonged - light or darkness, virtue or sin. According to the teachings of the fathers of the Orthodox Church, hell and paradise are not specific places, but express only the state of the soul, depending on whether it was open to God in the days of earthly life or opposed to it. Thus, a person himself determines the path by which his soul is destined to rush after death.
The Last Judgment
Mentioning the final judgment, it is necessary to make certain explanations and give a clearer picture of this most important Christian dogma. According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, formulated at the Second Council of Nicaea in 381 and called the “Nicene Tsaregradsky Creed”, there will come a time when the Lord will call the living and the dead to judgment. On this day, all the dead from the day of creation will rise from the graves and, having risen, will regain their flesh.
The New Testament says that the judgment will be made by the son of God Jesus Christ on the day of his second coming into the world. Having ascended the throne, he will send the angels to collect “from the four winds,” that is, from all sides of the world, the righteous and sinners, those who followed his commandments, and those who committed lawlessness. Each of those who appeared at God's trial will receive a well-deserved retribution in their affairs. The pure in heart will go to the kingdom of heaven, and the unrepentant sinners - to the “everlasting fire”. No soul of a person after death passes God's sentence.
His closest disciples, the holy apostles, who are described in the New Testament as saying that they will sit on thrones and begin to judge over the 12 tribes of Israel, will help the Lord. The Epistle of Paul even says that not only the apostles, but also all saints will be given the power to execute judgment on the world.
What is an "ordeal"?
However, the question of where the soul gets after death can be decided long before the final judgment. According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, on the way to the throne of God, she will have to go through an ordeal, or, in other words, the obstacles raised by the messengers of the prince of darkness. Let us dwell on them in more detail.
In the Holy Tradition there is a story about the ordeals that St. Theodora suffered in the 10th century and became famous for selfless service to God. After her death, she appeared in a night vision to one of the righteous and told about where the soul goes after death and what it undergoes on its way.
According to her, on the way to the throne of God's soul, two angels accompany, one of which is her guardian, given in holy baptism. In order to safely reach the kingdom of God, it is necessary to overcome 20 obstacles (ordeals) raised by demons, where the soul is subjected to rigorous tests after death. On each of them, the messengers of Satan present a list of her sins that belong to one specific category: gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, etc. In response to this, the angels unfold a scroll in which are written good deeds committed by the soul during life. A peculiar balance is drawn up and, depending on whether it will prevail - good deeds or evil ones, it is determined where the soul should go after death to the Throne of God or straight to hell.
The mercy of the Lord to fallen sinners
The revelation of St. Theodora says that the all-merciful Lord does not remain indifferent to the fate of even the most inveterate sinners. In those cases when the guardian angel does not find in his scroll a sufficient number of good deeds, he will fill up the deficiency with his will and enable the soul to continue the ascent. In addition, in some cases, the Lord can generally save the soul from such an ordeal.
A request for this mercy is contained in a whole series of Orthodox prayers addressed directly to the Lord or to his holy saints who interceded for us before his throne. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the prayer to St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker, contained in the final part of the akathist dedicated to him. It contains a petition that the saint interceded with the Almighty for the deliverance of us after death "from the ordeals of the air and eternal torment." And there are many such examples in the Orthodox Prayer Book.
Memorial Days
At the end of the article, we will dwell in more detail on when and how, according to the Orthodox tradition, it is customary to remember the deceased, since this is an unusually important issue that is directly related to the topic we have touched. The commemoration or, more simply, the commemoration includes, first of all, a prayer appeal to the Lord God with a petition for the absolution of all his sins committed in the days of earthly life. It is extremely necessary to do this, since, having stepped over the threshold of eternity, a person loses the opportunity to repent, and during his lifetime he could not always and for all could ask himself forgiveness.
After 3, 9, and 40 days after death, the soul of a person especially needs our prayer support, since at these stages of his afterlife he appears before the throne of the Most High. In addition, each time on the way to his heavenly chamber, the soul will have to overcome the ordeals mentioned above, and during these difficult trials it will, as never before, need the help of those who, having remained in the mortal world, keep a memory of it.
It is for this purpose that special prayers are read at requiem services, united under the general name "magpie." In addition, these days the relatives and friends of the deceased visit his grave, and then make a joint memorial meal at home or in a specially rented hall of a restaurant or cafe. It is equally important to repeat the entire prescribed order of remembrance on the first and then on all subsequent anniversaries of death. However, as the holy fathers of the Church teach us, the best way to help the soul of the deceased is the truly Christian life of his family and friends, their observance of the commandments of Christ and all-round assistance to those in need.