Angels. And as the soul passes and rises through the atmosphere, it encounters the toll houses lying in wait, lurking and trying to hinder its ascent. Each toll house presents the sins of the souls. The first toll house presents all the sins connected with the mouth and the tongue: lies, false oaths, idle talk, gossip, condemnation — everything that comes from there. And the Holy Angels present the good things a person did with his mouth and with his words.
Then they go to the second toll house, which concerns sight and the senses, one by one. Whatever evil a person committed through sight is examined. Many times, the demons even exaggerate things a little to make the soul suffer even more.
There is no logic in it. A soul will not be condemned for a lie simply because a demon tells a lie. But the purpose of their presence is precisely to torment man through the lies and wickedness of the demons. And if they can, of course, they try to win. The angels act as advocates. They say, "Yes, but through sight he opened his eyes and read the books of God. He lifted his eyes to heaven and prayed. He tried to do good with his eyes, or he repented.” And they will show the sins that we confessed, which came through sight. In this way, we pass through the toll houses.
The third toll house concerns hearing and what comes from it. The fourth concerns smell and the sins that come through it. It may sound funny. “Smell? Is that really serious?” Yet it is not funny at all. Forgive me for saying this — not to frighten you, but think of how many perfumes and such things we use. For what purpose? To become pleasing, attractive, charming, and desirable. To whom? Generally, women will say “to men,” and men will say “to women.” Now I do not know what else people may say. Times have changed; we may hear even more.
One might say, "So what, should nothing smell nice?” Of course things may smell pleasant. No one says we should be filthy or stink or live in an unpleasant state. But it is one thing to be clean and another to desire to stir up passions in people through smell. Even this may become something for which we are examined.
The next toll house concerns the wicked and shameful deeds committed through the touch of our hands. Then follow, as Saint Cyril of Alexandria describes, the remaining toll houses for the various sins: envy, jealousy, vanity, pride, bitterness, anger, rage, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, effeminacy, sorcery, and the other hateful and foul acts before God, which Saint Cyril says should not even be described in detail.
In general, every passion and every sin of the soul has its own toll houses, its own tax collectors. Imagine the terror and turmoil a soul will experience when it is examined for all these things.
Then the divine angelic powers stand before the unclean spirits, presenting the good deeds done through words, actions, thoughts, reflections, and our senses. The soul stands in the middle, watching with fear and trembling, wondering whether it will be condemned and bound because of its deeds or justified and set free. For each person will be judged according to his own works.
At that time we will not be able to make excuses and say, “It was not my fault; my neighbor led me astray.” I am responsible. Each person, it says, will be bound with his own chains.
If the soul is virtuous, if it lived with piety and right faith and conducted its life in a God-pleasing way, then the angels receive it, and it proceeds without anxiety or fear, going where all rejoice and desire to dwell—in the heavenly Kingdom, where all pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away.
Do you know where that phrase comes from? It is found in the Prophet Isaiah, whose feast is celebrated today together with the martyr Christopher: “Where pain, sorrow, and sighing have fled away.” We shall go where there will be no pain, no grief, no sighing, nothing of the sort. But this requires a condition: that we have practiced righteousness and virtue.
If not, then what will the soul feel within itself? Fear and terror.
Saint Symeon the New Theologian emphasizes that the dreadful toll houses will have no power at all over those souls who struggled with all their strength for virtue, repented of the sins they committed, and, through the mysteries of the Church and obedience to the commandments of Christ, already received here the pledge of the Holy Spirit, communion, and union with Christ and the uncreated Light.
So when we read about certain saints and their deaths, remember how much importance those around them give to the way a person departs: whether he is peaceful, whether he has serenity, hope, or even joy at his departure. We see this because such people had already received the pledge of the Holy Spirit here. Here they were united, as much as possible, with Christ.
Therefore, our struggle to avoid all these things is not simply to confess our sins, as some think. That is only the beginning. Nor is it merely to do a few good deeds to balance out some little sin we forgot. No. “My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord,” says the prophet David. This must exist within us: to long to exist, to be, and to remain united with Christ. To desire to be in His temple, in His house, and, consequently, in a relationship with Him, rather than in mansions, great houses, and the pleasures of this world.
Saint Symeon of Thessaloniki says, "If you see that the end of your life is approaching and the time of your departure to the other life is near, pray and partake more frequently of Holy Communion so that you may receive from now the pledge of Christ."
Not theoretically, but practically. Desire holy communion and approach it. For Christ will be for you in eternity life, nourishment, light, and rest. If, from now on, you participate in communion with Him in this life, you will find mercy and compassion, and you will already have the beginning of participation in His life and will remain forever with Him.
And the enemy demons will flee far from you, because they will have no power against you, since you will have received within yourself the unconquerable and eternal fire. What is this fire? Christ—the uncreated light of divinity.
Have you heard how some virtuous and holy people received Holy Communion near the end of their lives, and what is often written in the Synaxaria? They shone. Their faces became radiant after Holy Communion. What is this? It is the light of Christ coming and dwelling within us. Ah.
