Fr. Seraphim Rose - The Soul after Death

 

1. Fr. Seraphim Rose - The Soul after Death - Preface & Chapter 1

the soul after Death by father seraphim rose preface

the aim of the present book is to fold first to give an explanation in terms of

the orthodox christian doctrine of life after death of the present day after death

experiences that have caused so much interest in some religious and scientific

circles and second to present the basic sources and texts which

contain the orthodox teaching on life after death if the orthodox teaching is so little

understood today it is largely because these stacks have been so neglected

and have become so unfashionable in our enlightened times and our attempt

has been to make this tax more understandable and accessible to present-day readers

needless to say they constitute a reading material infinitely more profound and more

profitable than the popular after death books of our day

which even when they are not merely sensational simply cannot go much below the

spectacular surface of the day's experiences for want of a coherent and true teaching

on the whole subject of life after death the orthodox teaching presented in this

book will doubtless be criticized by some as being too simple or even

naive for a 20th century meant to believe it should therefore be emphasized that

this teaching is not that of a few isolated or untypical teachers

in the orthodox church but is the teaching which the orthodox church of christ has handed down from

her very beginning which is expressed in countless platouristical writings and

lives of saints and in the divine services of the orthodox church and

which has been taught uninterruptedly in the church even down to our own day the simplicity of

this teaching is the simplicity of truth itself which whether it is expressed in

this or in other teachings of the church comes as a refreshing fountain of

clarity in the midst of the dark confusion caused in modern minds by the various

errors and empty speculations of recent centuries

each chapter of this book attempts to point to the plateuristic and had geographical sources which

contain this teaching the chief inspiration for the writing of this

book has been a 19th century russian orthodox father bishop ignatius

branca ninov who was perhaps the first great orthodox theologian

to face squarely the very problem which has become so acute in our own

days how to preserve the authentic christian tradition and teaching in a world that has become

entirely foreign to orthodoxy and strives either to overthrow and dismiss it or

else reinterpret it so that it can be made compatible with a worldly way of

life and thinking acutely aware of the roman catholic and other western

influences which were striving to modernize orthodoxy even in his days bishop ignatius

prepared for the defense of orthodoxy both by delving deeply into

the authentic orthodox sources whose teaching he absorbed in some of the best orthodox monastic

centers of his time and by familiarizing himself also

with the scientific and literary culture of his century he attended an engineering

school not a theological seminary armed thus with a knowledge

both of orthodox theology and of secular knowledge he devoted his life to the defense of

authentic orthodoxy and to an exposure of the modern deviation from it

it is no exaggeration to say that no other orthodox country in the 19th

century possessed such a defender of orthodoxy against the temptations and errors of

modern times his only arrival perhaps was his fellow

countrymen bishop to founder reclose who did much the same thing

on a less sophisticated level one volume of bishop ignatius collected

works volume 3 was devoted specifically to the question of the church's teaching

on life after death which he defended against the roman catholic and other moderate

distortions of it it is chiefly from this volume that we have borrowed our own discussion

in the present book on subjects like tall houses and the aberrations of

spirits teachings which for some reason the modern mind finds it impossible to

accept in a simple way but insists on reinterpreting them

or rejecting them altogether bishop tophan also of course taught the

same teaching and we have also made use of his words and in our own century another great

russian orthodox theologian archbishop john maximovich of blessed memory

repeated this teaching so clearly and simply that we have used his words to form most

of the conclusion of the present book that the orthodox

doctrine on life after death has been taught so explicitly and clearly by

great orthodox teachers in modern times right down to our own day is an immense

help to us who are striving today to preserve the true orthodoxy of the past

not merely in its correctly transmitted words but even more in the authentically

orthodox interpretation of these words in this book in addition to

the orthodox sources and interpretations mentioned above we have made considerable use of today's

non-orthodox after-death literature as well as of some occult texts on this subject

in this we have followed bishop ignacio's example in presenting a false

teaching as fully and fairly as needed to expose its falsity

so that orthodox christians will not be tempted by it and we have also found

like him that non-orthodox texts when it is a matter of actual

experiences that are being described and not mere opinions and interpretations often

provide striking confirmations of orthodox truths our chief aim in this book has been to

present as detailed a contrast as necessary to point out the full difference that

exists between the orthodox teaching and the experience of orthodox saints on

the one hand and the occult teaching and modern experiences on the other if we had merely presented

the orthodox teaching without this contrast it would have been convincing

to few save the already convinced but now perhaps some even of those who have been

involved in the modern experiences will be awakened to the vast difference

between their experience and genuine spiritual experience however the very fact that a

good part of this book discusses experiences both christian and non-christian also

means that not everything here is a simple presentation of the church's

teaching on life after death but also contains the author's interpretations of these

various experiences concerning these interpretations of course

there is a room for a legitimate difference of opinion among orthodox christians

we have tried as far as possible to present these interpretations in a provisional

way without trying to define such matters of experience

in the same way that the church's general teaching on life after death can be defined

specifically regarding occult out of body experiences and the astral plane

we have simply presented these as they have been described by participants

in them and compared them to similar manifestations in orthodox literature without trying to

define the precise nature of such experiences but we have accepted them as real

experiences wherein actual demonic forces are contacted

and not as meh hallucinations let the reader judge for himself how

adequate this approach has been it should be obvious that this book has by no means exhausted

the orthodox teaching on life after death it is only an introduction to it in

reality however there is no complete teaching on this subject

and there are no orthodox experts on it we we live on earth can hardly even

begin to understand the reality of the spiritual world until we

ourselves come to dwell in it this is a process that begins now in this life but

ends only in eternity when we will behold face to face what we now see only

through a glass darkly one corinthians 13 12. but the orthodox sources to which we

have pointed in this book give us a basic outline of this teaching

and this is sufficient to inspire us not to acquire a precise knowledge of

something which is after all beyond us but to begin to

struggle to attain the heavenly kingdom which is the goal of our christian

life and to avoid the demonic pitfalls which are spread everywhere in the way

of christian strugglers by the enemy of our salvation the other

world is realer and closer than we usually think and the path to it is right here

in front of us in the life of spiritual discipline and prayer which the church has handed down to us

as the way to salvation this book is dedicated and addressed to those who

wish to lead such a life chapter 1 some aspects of today's

experiences the subject of life after death quite suddenly has become

one of widespread popular interest in the western world in particular a number of books

purporting to describe after death experiences have been published in the past two

years and reputable scientists and physicians have either authored such books

themselves or given them their whole-hearted endorsement

one of this the world-renowned physician and expert on problems of death and

dying elizabeth kubler-ross finds that these researchers into after-death experiences

will enlighten many and will confirm what we have been taught for 2 000 years that there is life

after death only this of course is an abrupt departure from the hitherto

prevailing atmosphere in medical and scientific circles which in general have viewed death as

a taboo subject and relegated any idea of after death survival

as belonging to the realm of fantasy or superstition or at best as a matter of private belief

for which there is no objective evidence the outward cause of this sudden change

of opinion is a simple one new techniques of resuscitating the

dead in particular by stimulation of the heart when it has stopped beating have come

into widespread use in recent years thus people who have been technically dead

without pulse or heartbeat have been restored to life in large numbers

and many of these people once the taboo on this subject and the fear of being considered crazy

had worn off are now speaking about it openly but it is the inward cause of

this change as well as its ideology that are most interesting to us why

should this phenomenon have become suddenly so immensely popular and in

terms of what religious or philosophical view is it being generally understood

it has already become one of the signs of the times a symptom of the religious interest of

our day what then is its significance we shall return to these questions

after closer examination of the phenomenon itself but first we must ask

on what basis are we to judge this phenomenon those who describe it themselves have no

clear interpretation of it often they are searching for such an interpretation

in occultist or spiritistic texts some religious people as well as

scientists sensing a danger to their established beliefs

simply deny the experiences as they are described relegating them

usually to the realm of hallucinations this has been done by some protestants

who are committed to the opinion either that the soul is in a state of unconsciousness after

death or that it goes immediately to be with christ likewise doctrina unbelievers reject the

idea that the soul survives at all no matter what evidence is presented to them

but such experiences cannot be explained merely by denying them they must be

properly understood both in themselves and in the whole context of what we know

concerning the fate of the soul after death unfortunately some orthodox christians

also under the influence of modern materialistic ideas

as filtered through protestantism and roman catholicism have come to have rather vague and

indefinite ideas of the afterlife the author of one of the new books on after death

experiences david r wheeler journey to the other side ace books new

york 1977 made a point of asking the opinions of various sects

on the state of the soul after death thus he called a priest of the greek

orthodox archdiocese and was given a very general opinion of

the existence of heaven and hell but was told that orthodoxy does not

have any specific idea of what the hereafter would be like

the author could only conclude that the greek orthodox view of the hereafter

is not clear page 130 on the contrary of course orthodox

christianity has a quite precise doctrine and view of life after death

beginning from the very moment of death itself this doctrine is contained in the holy

scripture interpreted in the whole context of christian doctrine in writings of the holy fathers and

especially as regards the specific experiences of the soul after death

in many lives of saints and anthologies of personal experiences of this

sort the entire fourth book of the dialogues of saint gregory the

great pope of rome who reposed in 604 for example is devoted to this subject

in our own days on anthology of these experiences taken both from ancient lives of saints

and more recent accounts has appeared in english eternal mysteries beyond the grave

jordanville new york 1968 and just recently there was reprinted an english

translation of a remarkable text written in the late 19th century

by someone who returned to life after being dead for 36 hours k

uk school unbelievable for many but actually a true occurrence orthodox life july august 1976

the orthodox christian thus has a whole wealth of literature at his disposal by means of which it is

possible to understand the new after death experiences and evaluate them in the light of the

whole christian doctrine of life after death the book that has kindled the contemporary

interest in this subject was published in november 1975 and was

written by a young psychiatrist in the southern united states dr raymond a modi junior

life after life mockingbird books atlanta 1975.

he was not then aware of any other studies or literature on this subject but even as

the book was being printed it became evident that there was already

great interest in this subject and much had already been written about it the

overwhelming success of dr moody's book with over 2 million copies sold

brought the experiences of the dying into the light of widespread publicity and in the four

years since then a number of books and articles on these experiences

have appeared in print among the most important are the articles and forthcoming book of

dr elizabeth kubler-ross whose findings duplicated those of dr

moody and the scientific studies of doctors orsis and harold's son dr moody himself

has written a sequel to his book reflections on life after life a baton mockingbird book

1977 with supplementary material and further reflections on the subject

the findings of these and other new books all of which are in basic agreement

concerning the phenomena in question will be discussed below as a starting

point we will examine dr moody's first book which is a fairly objective

and systematic approach to the whole subject dr modi in the past 10 years has

collected the personal testimonies of some 150 persons

who have had actual death or near-death experiences or who have related to him

the experiences of others as they were dying out of this he has

concentrated on some 50 persons with whom he has conducted detailed

interviews he attempts to be objective in presenting this

evidence although he admits that the book naturally reflects the background

opinions and prejudices of its author page 9 who by religious affiliation is a

methodist of rather liberal views and in fact there are some drawbacks to the book as an

objective study of after death phenomena first the author does not give a single entire

death experience from start to finish but gives only excerpts usually very brief from each of 15

separate elements which form his model of the complete experience of

death but in actual fact the experiences of the dying as described in this and other

recent books are often so different in details one from the other

that it seems to be at best premature to try to include them all in one model dr modi's model

seems in places artificial and contrived although this of course does not lessen

the value of the actual testimonies which he gives second the author has joined together

two rather different experiences actual experiences of clinical death

and near-death experiences the author admits the difference between them but

claims that they form a continuum page 20 and should be studied together

in cases where experiences which begin before death and in the experience of death

itself whether or not the person is revived there is indeed a continuum of experience

but several of the experiences which he describes the recalling of the events of one's

life in a rapid order when one is in danger of drowning

the experience of entering a tunnel when one is administered an anesthetic

like ether are fairly commonly experienced by people who have never experienced

clinical death and so they perhaps belong to the model of

some more general experience and may be only incidental to the experience of

dying some of the books now appearing are even less discriminating in their selection

of experiences to record including out of body experiences in general

together with the actual experiences of death and dying third the very fact

that the author approaches this phenomena scientifically with no clear conception in advance of

what the soul actually undergoes at death lays him open to numerous confusions and

misconceptions about this experience which can never be removed by a mere collection of

descriptions of it those who describe it themselves inevitably add their own interpretations

to it the author himself admits that it is actually impossible to study this

question scientifically and in fact he turns for an explanation of it to

parallel experiences in such a cultural writings as those of swedenborg and the tibetan

book of the dead noting that he intends now to look more closely at the vast

literature on paranormal and occult phenomena to increase his understanding of the

events he has studied page 9. all of these factors

will lead us not to expect too much from this book and other similar books

they will not give us a complete and coherent account of what happens to the soul after death

still there is a sufficient residue of actual experiences of clinical death

in this and other new books to merit one's serious attention especially in

view of the fact that some people are already interpreting these experiences in a way hostile to

the traditional christian view of the afterlife as though they disprove the existence

either of heaven or especially of hell how then are we to understand these

experiences the 15 elements dr moody describes as

belonging to the complete experience of dying may be reduced for purposes of

discussion to several main characteristics of the experience

which we shall here present and compare with the orthodox literature on this

subject one the out of body experience

the first thing that happens to a person who has died according to these accounts is that he

leaves his body and exists entirely separate from it without once losing

consciousness he is often able to observe everything around him including his

own dead body and the resuscitation attempts on it he feels himself to be in a state of

painless warmth and ease rather as if he were floating

he is totally unable to affect his environment by speech or touch and thus often feels a great

loneliness his thought processes usually become much quicker than

they had been in the body here are some brief excerpts from these experiences the day was bitterly

cold yet while i was in that blackness all i felt was warmth and the most

extreme comfort i have ever experienced i remember thinking i must be dead page 27

i began to experience the most wonderful feelings i couldn't feel a thing in the world

except peace comfort is just quietness page 27 i saw them resuscitating me

it was really strange i wasn't very high it was almost like i was on a pedestal

but not above them to any great extent just maybe looking over them i tried

talking to them but nobody could hear me nobody would listen to me

page 37 people were walking up from all directions to get to the

wreck as they came real close i would try to turn around to get out of their way

but they would just walk through me page 37

i was unable to touch anything unable to communicate with any of the people

around it was an awesome lonely feeling a feeling of complete isolation i knew that i was

completely alone by myself page 43. occasionally there is striking objective

proof that the person is actually outside the body at this time as when people are able to

relate conversations or give precise details of events that

occurred even in adjoining rooms or further away while they were dead among other

examples like this dr kubler-ross mentions one remarkable

case where a blind person saw and later described everything

clearly in the room where she died although when she came back to life

she was once again blind a striking evidence that it is not the eye that sees nor the

brain that things for the mental faculties become quicker after death but rather the soul

that performs these actions through the physical organs as long as the body is alive

but by its own power when the body is dead dr elizabeth kubler wrote death does not

exist the co-evolution quarterly summer 1977

pages 103 104 none of this should sound very strange

to an orthodox christian the experience here described is what

christians know as the separation of the soul from the body at the moment of death it is

characteristic of our times of unbelief that these people seldom use

the christian vocabulary or realize that it is their soul

that has been set free from the body and now experiences everything they are

usually simply puzzled at the new state they find themselves in the account of

an after death experience entitled unbelievable for many but actually a

true occurrence was written by just such a person a baptized orthodox christian who in the

spirit of the late 19th century remained indifferent to the truths of

his own fate and even disbelieved in life after death his experience of

some 80 years ago is of great value to us today and seems even

providential in view of the new after death experiences of today

because it is a single whole experience of what happens to the soul after death

going far beyond the brief and fragmentary experiences described in the new books made by a

sensitive individual who began from the modern state of unbelief

and ended by recognizing the truths of orthodox christianity to such an extent

that he ended his days as a monk this little book actually may serve as a

test case against which to judge the new experiences it was approved as containing nothing

opposed to the orthodox teaching on life after death by one of the leading

orthodox missionary printers at the turn of the century archbishop

nikon of vologda after describing the final agony of physical

death and the terrible weight pressing him down to earth the author of this account

relates that suddenly i felt a calm within myself i opened my eyes

and everything that i saw in the course of that minute down to the slightest details registered

in my memory with complete clarity i saw that i was standing alone within a

room to the right of me standing about something in a semi-circle

the whole medical staff was crowded together this group struck me with surprise

at the place where they were standing there was a bed what was it that drew

the attention of these people what were they looking at when i already was not there when i was

standing in the midst of the room i moved forward and looked where they

all were looking there on the bed i was lying

i do not have any recollection of experiencing anything like fear when seeing my double

i only was perplexed how can this be i feel myself here and at the same time

i am there also i wanted to touch myself to take the left hand by the right

my hand went right through my body as through empty space i called the doctor

but the atmosphere in which i was found turned out to be entirely unfit for me

it did not receive and transmitted the sounds of my voice and i understood myself to be in a state

of utter dissociation from all that was about me i understood my

strange state of solitude and the feeling of panic came over me there really was

something inexpressibly horrible in this extraordinary solitude

i glanced and here only for the first time the thought emerged is it possible that that which

has happened to me in our language in the language of living people is defined by the word death

this occurs to me because the body lying on the bed had all the appearance of a corpse

with our understanding of the word death there is inextricably bound the idea

of some kind of destruction a cessation of life how could i think that i died

when i did not lose self-consciousness for one moment when i felt myself just as alive

hearing all seeing goal conscious of all capable of movement thought speech

the dissociation from everything around me that split in my personality

more than anything could have made me understand that which had taken place

if i should have believed in the existence of a soul if i were religious but this was not the

case and i was guided solely by that which i felt and the sensation of life was so

clear that i was only perplexed with the strange phenomenon

being completely unable to link my feelings with the traditional conception of death

that is to say while sensing and being conscious of myself to think that i do

not exist afterwards in recalling and thinking over my state of being at

the time i noticed only that my mental capacities functioned with striking energy and

swiftness pages 16 to 21

the state of the soul in the first minutes after death is not described in such detail

in the christian literature of antiquity there the whole emphasis is always on

the much more striking experiences that come later it is probably only in modern

times when the identification of life with life in the body

has become so complete and pervasive that we should expect to see such attention paid to those first few

minutes when the expectations of most modern men are turned so thoroughly upside down

with the realization death is not the end life continues a whole new state

opens up for the soul there is certainly nothing in this experience that

contradicts the orthodox teaching on the state of the soul immediately after death some in

criticizing this experience have raised doubts that a person is

actually dead if he is revived in a few minutes but this is only a technical question

which we will comment on in due time the fact remains that in this few

minutes sometimes in the minutes before death also there are often experiences

that cannot be explained as my hallucinations our task here

is to discover how we are to understand these experiences two

the meeting with others the soul remains in its initial state of solitude after

death for a very short time dr modi quotes several cases of

people who even before dying suddenly saw already dead relatives

and friends the doctor gave me up and told my relatives

that i was dying i realized that all these people were there almost in multitudes

it seems hovering around the ceiling of the room they were all people i had known in my

past life but who had passed on before i recognized my grandmother and a girl i

had known when i was in school and many other relatives and friends

it was a very happy occasion and i felt that they had come to protect or to

guide me page 44. this experience of meeting deceased friends and relatives

at death is by no means a new discovery even among modern scientists

over 50 years ago it was made the subject of a small book by a pioneer in

modern parapsychology or physical research sir william barrett

deathbed visions matuen london 1926 after the appearance of dr moody's

first book a much more detailed account of this experience

inspired by sir williams book was published and it turned out that the two

authors of this book had been doing systematic research on the experiences of the dying for many

years here we should say a word about the findings of this new book

carly's aussies and erlandur haraldson at the hour of death even books new york

1977 this book is the first thoroughly scientific one to appear on the

experiences of the dying it is based on the results of detailed questionnaires

and interviews with a randomly selected group of doctors and nurses in the eastern united

states and northern india the latter country being chosen for maximum objectivity

so as to test the differences in experience that might arise from the difference in

nationality psychology and religion the material thus obtained

includes over a thousand cases of apparitions and visions according to the dying and to a few who

returned after being clinically dead the authors find that in general dr moody's findings

are in harmony with theirs page 24 they find that apparitions of dead

relatives and friends and in india many apparitions of

hindu gods occur to the dying often within an hour and usually within a day before death

in about half as many cases there is a vision of some other worldly heaven-like

environment which produces the same feelings this heaven experience

will be discussed below this study is of special value in that it carefully distinguishes

rambling this worldly hallucinations from clearly seen otherworldly apparitions and visions

and statistically analyzes the presence of factors such as use of hallucinogenic drugs

high temperatures and disease and impairment of the brain all of which

could produce male hallucinations rather than actual experiences of

something outside the patient's own mind very significantly the authors find that

the most coherent and clearly otherworldly experiences occur to the patients who are the most

in contact with this worldly reality and the least likely to hallucinate in particular those who see

apparitions of the dead or spiritual beings are usually in full possession of the

mental faculties and see these beings with full awareness of their hospital surroundings

further they find that those who hallucinate usually see living persons whereas the

genuine apparitions of the dying seem rather to be of dead persons

the authors while cautious in their conclusions find themselves inclined to acceptance

of the afterlife hypothesis as the most tenable explanation of our data page 194

this book thus complements the findings of dr moody and impressively confirms the experience

of meeting with the dead and with spiritual beings at the time of death whether these

beings are actually those whom the dying take them to be is a question that will be discussed

below such findings of course are somewhat startling

when they come from the background of agnosticism and unbelief that has so long

characterized the assumptions of modern science for an orthodox christian on the other

hand there is nothing surprising in them we know death to be only a transition to

another form of existence and are familiar with many apparitions

and visions which occurred to the dying both saints and ordinary sinners

saint gregory the great in describing many of these experiences in his

dialogues explains this phenomenon of meeting others

it frequently happens that a soul on the point of death recognizes those with whom it is

to share the same eternal dwelling for equal blame or reward

dialogues 4 36 and specifically with regard to those who have

led a righteous life saint gregory notes that it often happens that the

saints of heaven appear to the righteous at the hour of death in order to reassure them

and with the vision of the heavenly company before their minds they die without experiencing any fear

or agony dialogues 4 12 he gives examples when angels martyrs

the apostle peter the mother of god and christ himself have appeared to the

dying 4 13 18.

dr moody gives one example of a dying person's encounter

not with any relative or spiritual being but with a total stranger one woman

told of seeing during her out of body experience not only her own transparent spiritual

body but also another one that of another person who had

died very recently she did not know who this person was

life after life page 45 saint gregory describes a similar

phenomenon in the dialogues he relates several incidents when a dying man calls out the

name of someone who is dying at the same time in another place and this is not at all

a matter of clairvoyance experienced only by saints for saint gregory describes how

one ordinary sinner apparently destined for hell sends for a certain stephen who

unknown to him is to die at the same time to tell him that our ship is ready to

take us to sicily sicily being a place of much volcanic activity

reminiscent of hell dialogues 4 36 evidently this is a matter of

what is now called extrasensory perception esp which becomes particularly acute in

many just before death and of course continues after death when the soul is outside

the realm of the physical senses entirely thus this particular discovery of modern

physical research only confirms what the reader of ancient christian literature

already knows concerning encounters at the time of death these encounters

while they do not seem by any means to occur to everyone before

death still can be called universal in the sense that they occur without

regard to nationality religion or holiness of life

the experience of a christian saint on the other hand while sharing the general

characteristics which seemingly anyone can experience has about it another dimension entirely

one that is not subject to definition by psychic researchers

in this experience special signs of god's favor often are manifest and the vision from

the other world is often visible to all or many who are near

not just to the dying person let us quote just one such example from the same

dialogues of saint gregory while they stood around romulus bed at midnight

a light suddenly shone down from heaven flooding the entire room its splendor

and brilliance struck fear and dread into their hearts then they heard the sound of an immense

throng the door of the room was thrown wide open as if a great number of persons were

pushing their way in those who stood around the bed had the impression

that the room was being crowded with people but because of the excessive fear and

extreme brightness they were unable to see fear paralyzed

them and the brilliant light dazzled their eyes

just then a delightful odor filled the air and which fragrance

calmed their souls which were still terrified by the sudden light

looking at her spiritual mother redempta she said in a pleasant voice do not fear

mother i shall not die yet for three days the fragrance remained

and on the fourth night ramula again called her mistress and asked to receive

holy communion scarcely had redempta and her other disciple left the bad side

when they saw two choirs of singers standing in the square in front of the convent the soul of

romula was set free from the body to be conducted directly to heaven

and as the choirs escorted her soul rising higher and higher the sound of

their singing gradually diminished until finally the music of the psalms and the

sweetness of the odor vanished altogether dialogues 4

17 orthodox christians will remember similar incidents in the lives of many

saints saint cesawis singh thighs blasphemophilus of

kiev etc as we advance further in the study of the experiences

of dying and death we should keep well in mind the great differences that exist between the

general experience of dying which is now arousing so much interest

and the grace given experience of death which occurs to righteous orthodox christians

this will help us the better to understand some of the puzzling aspects of the

death experiences that are now occurring and are being described

an awareness of this distinction for example can help us to identify the apparitions

which the dying see do relatives and friends actually come from the realm of the dead

in order to appear to the dying and are these apparitions themselves

different from the appearances of saints to righteous christians at their death

to answer the first of these questions let us remember that doctors orcis and haralson

report that many dying hindus see the gods of their hindu pantheon krishna

shiva kali etc rather than those close relatives and friends

commonly reported in america yet as saint paul so clearly teaches these

gods are nothing in reality 1 corinthians chapter 8 verses 4 5. any real

experience of gods involves demons 1 corinthians chapter 10

verse 20. who then do these dying hindus actually see doctors

aussies and harassment believe that the identification of the beings who are

encountered is largely the product of subjective interpretation

based on religious cultural and personal background

and this seems indeed a reasonable judgment that will fit most cases in the american

cases also it must be that the dead relatives who are seen are not actually present

as the dying believe them to be saint gregory the great says only that the dying man recognizes

people whereas to the righteous the saints of heaven appear a distinction which not

merely indicates the different experience of the righteous and ordinary sinners when they die

but also is directly bound up with the different afterlife state of the saints and

ordinary sinners the saints have great freedom to intercede for the

living and to come to their aid whereas deceased sinners saving very special

cases have no contact with the living this distinction

is set forth quite clearly by blessed augustine the 5th century latin father

in the treaties which he wrote at the request of saint paulinus of nola

concerning the care of the dead where he tries to reconcile the

undoubted fact that saints such as the martyr felix of nola have clearly appeared

to believers with the equally undoubted fact that the dead as a general rule

do not appear to the living after giving the orthodox teaching based

on holy scripture that the souls of the dead are in a place where they do not see the things

which go on and transpire in this mortal life chapter 13 and his opinion that

cases of the seeming manifestations of the dead to the living

are usually either through the workings of angels or are false visions through the

workings of devils who have in mind such purposes as leading man into a false teaching of

the afterlife chapter 10 blessed august and proceeds to

distinguish between the seeming manifestations of the dead and the true manifestations of saints

how do the martyrs by their very benefactions which are given to those who seek

indicate that they are interested in human affairs if the dead do not know what the living

are doing for not alone by the operations of his benefactions

but even to the very eyes of man did felix the confessor appear when

nola was being besieged by the barbarians you bishop paulinus take pious delight

in this appearance of his we heard of this not by uncertain rumors

but from trustworthy witnesses in truth things are divinely shown which are

different from the usual order nature has given to the separate kinds

of created things just because our lord when he wished suddenly turned water into wine is no

excuse for us not to understand the proper value of water as water this is a rare

in fact an isolated instance of such divine operation

again the fact that lazarus rose from the dead does not mean that every dead person

arises when he wishes or that a lifeless person is called back

by a living one just as a sleeping person is aroused by

one who is awake some events are characteristic of human action others manifest the signs

of divine power some things happen naturally others are done in a

miraculous manner although god is present in the natural process

and nature accompanies the miraculous one must not think then that

any of the dead can intervene in the affairs of the living merely because the martyrs are present

for the healing or the aiding of certain ones rather one should think this the martyrs

through divine power take part in the affairs of the living but the dead of themselves have no power

to intervene in the affairs of the living care for the dead chapter 16 in

saint augustine treaties on marriage and other subjects the fathers of the church

volume 27 new york 1955 page 378. in indeed to take one example

holy fathers of recent times such as elder ambrose of optina teach that the beings

contacted at spiritistic senses are demons rather than the spirits of

the dead and those who have thoroughly investigated the phenomena of spiritism

if they have any christian standard of judgment at all have come to the same conclusion

see for example simone a blackmore sj spiritism facts and frauds benzene george bros

new york 1924 thus we need not doubt that the saints

actually appear to the righteous at death as is described in many lives of

saints to ordinary sinners on the other hand there are often apparitions of relatives

friends or gods which correspond to what the dying either expect or are prepared to see

the exact nature of these letter apparitions it is probably impossible to define

they are certainly not male hallucinations but seem to be a part of the natural

experience of death assigned to the dying person as it were that he is about to enter a

new realm where the laws of ordinary material reality no longer hold there is nothing

very extraordinary about this experience which seems to hold constant for

different times places and religions the experience of meeting with others

commonly occurs just before death and is not to be confused with the

rather different meeting we will now describe that with the being of light

3. the being of light this experience dr moody describes as perhaps the most

incredible common element in the accounts i have studied and certainly the element which has the

most profound effect upon the individual life after life

page 45 most people describe this experience as the appearance of a

light which rapidly increases in brightness and all recognize it as some kind of

personal being filled with worth and love to whom the newly deceased is drawn by a

kind of magnetic attraction the identification of this

being seems to depend on one's religious background in itself it has no

recognizable form some call it christ others call it an angel

all seem to understand that it is a being sent from somewhere to guide them here are

some accounts of this experience i heard the doctors say that i was dead and that's when i began

to feel as though i were tumbling actually kind of floating

everything was black except that way off from me i could see this light

it was a very very brilliant light but not too large at first it grew

larger as i came nearer and nearer to it page 48 after another person

died he felt himself floating up into this pure crystal clear light

it's not any kind of light you can describe on earth i didn't actually see a person in

this light and yet it has a special identity it definitely does it is a light of

perfect understanding and perfect love page 48

i was out of my body there's no doubt about it because i could see my own body there on

the operating room table my soul was out all this made me feel

very bad at first but then this really bright light came it did seem that it was a little

dim at first but then it was this huge beam at first when the light came i wasn't

sure what was happening but then i asked it kind of asked me if i was

ready to die page 48 almost always this being begins to

communicate with the newly deceased more by a kind of thought transference

than by spoken words what he says to them is always the same

thing which is interpreted by those who experience it as

are you prepared to die or what have you done with your life to show me

page 47 sometimes also in connection with this being the

dying person sees a kind of flashback of the past events of his life

all emphasize however that this being in no way offers any judgment of their

lives or actions he merely provokes them to reflect on their lives

doctors orcis and haralson have also noted some experiences of such a being

in their studies remarking that the experience of light is

a typical quality of other worldly visitors page 38 and preferring to follow dr

moody in calling the beings seen or felt in this light simply as

figures of light rather than the spiritual beings and deities

the dying often identify them as who or what are these beings of light

many call these beings angels and point to their positive qualities

their beings of light are full of love and understanding and inculcate the idea of responsibility

for one's life but the angels known to orthodox christian experience are very

much more definite both in appearance and in function than these beings of light

in order to understand this and to begin to see what these beings of light may be it will be

necessary here to set forth the orthodox christian doctrine of angels

and then to examine in particular the nature of the guiding angels of the

afterlife