Many have heard of them, but few have truly understood.
You will rarely find them discussed in modern conversations, yet once you hear about them, you will never forget them. The Holy Fathers spoke of them with great seriousness, fear of God, and purity of heart. They called them the Tollhouses of the Air.
According to this spiritual teaching, they are part of the soul's passage after death. This teaching is not presented merely as a metaphor or a myth but as a spiritual reality described in the writings and experiences of certain saints.
The account of Saint Theodora is particularly striking. It is found in the Life of Saint Basil the Younger. Saint Gregory, a disciple of Saint Basil, wished to learn about the fate of Theodora's soul after her death. In response, Theodora revealed to him, in great detail, her journey through the Tollhouses of the Air.
When the soul leaves the body, it does not immediately ascend to the throne of God. It is accompanied by angels, but it is also confronted by demons. Each tollhouse represents a spiritual examination concerning a particular category of sin.
The demons appear and bring before the soul the deeds it has committed: not only serious sins, but also seemingly insignificant ones, forgotten actions, and words that we may have considered harmless.
Traditionally, approximately twenty-three tollhouses are described.
One tollhouse concerns evil speech: every act of slander and every word spoken to hurt another person.
Another concerns anger and insults: arrogance, raising one's voice, contempt, and insulting others, even members of one's own family.
There is also the tollhouse of envy and jealousy. It examines our jealousy of another person's success, gifts, and possessions, as well as the secret satisfaction we may feel when something unfortunate happens to our neighbor.
The tollhouse of lying concerns not only obvious lies but also deception, manipulation, and every attempt to conceal the truth.
Then comes the tollhouse of anger and hatred, where the soul is reminded of every outburst of rage and every resentment it kept in its heart. The demons will remind us of those whom we refused to forgive.
The soul must also pass through the tollhouse of pride. It examines whether we looked down upon others, considered ourselves superior, or believed that we were better than everyone else.
There is also the tollhouse of blasphemy.
Consider how many people today use blasphemous language and curse what is holy. They curse Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos, the saints, and the Christian faith. Is this merely a coincidence, or is it the work of the devil? Why do some people who call themselves Christians use the very names of Christ and His saints as expressions of anger and profanity?
Then comes the tollhouse of idle talk and foolish speech. Here, the soul is examined for empty words, meaningless conversations, foolish discussions, and songs that lead the mind away from God.
The tollhouse of deceit and usury concerns fraud, dishonesty, and every agreement through which we exploited or took advantage of our fellow human beings.
The tollhouse of negligence examines how many times we allowed laziness to overcome us, how often we neglected prayer, and how frequently we preferred sleep or worldly pleasures to attending the Divine Liturgy on Sunday. How many times was our soul spiritually asleep when we should have been standing before God?
The tollhouse of greed and love of money examines our attachment to material possessions. The problem is not simply that someone possessed wealth, but that they refused to share, neglected those in need, and placed their trust in money rather than in God's providence.
The tollhouse of drunkenness concerns not only those who are addicted to alcohol but also those who allow drinking and other excesses to interfere with their prayer and spiritual life.
If you held grudges, refused to forgive, or repaid evil with evil, the tollhouse of resentment and unforgiveness will bring these things to light.
There is also the tollhouse of witchcraft and sorcery. It examines not only whether someone practiced witchcraft but also whether they consulted mediums, sought guidance from fortune-tellers, read horoscopes, or relied on amulets and superstitious objects for protection.
The tollhouse of gluttony examines not only excessive eating but also a lack of self-control, disregard for fasting, and the failure to receive God's gifts with gratitude and thanksgiving.
If you placed anything above God, whether your career, your own ego, material possessions, or even your physical appearance, the tollhouse of idolatry exposes this misplaced love and devotion.
Other tollhouses concern impurity and sexual sins, examining the passions, desires, and actions through which a person has neglected the purity of the soul and the commandments of God.
The tollhouse of adultery examines unfaithfulness, impurity within marriage, and betrayal of one's spouse, not only through physical actions but also through impure thoughts, desires, and the deliberate feeding of sinful passions.
The tollhouse of murder concerns the taking of human life, including abortion and other acts that deliberately destroy innocent life. The demons accuse the soul, bringing these actions before it.
There is also the tollhouse of theft, which examines not only major acts of stealing but also smaller injustices, dishonesty, and taking what rightfully belongs to another person.
The tollhouse of fornication examines every impure act and carnal desire that has not been sincerely repented of and confessed.
Finally, the tollhouse of cruelty and lack of mercy reveals whether we were merciless, whether we refused to help the poor, and whether we turned away when we saw someone suffering and in need of help.
Everything will be brought to light.
At each examination, the demons accuse the soul, crying out, "This soul belongs to us!" But the angels defend it, presenting its repentance, good deeds, and sincere confession before God.
This is why genuine repentance and confession are so important.
The Orthodox Church does not present these accounts as formally defined dogma that every Christian must interpret in exactly the same way. Rather, the accounts of the Tollhouses are found in the spiritual writings and experiences of certain saints and are intended to awaken us to repentance and vigilance.
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, Saint Macarius of Egypt, Saint Anthony the Great, Saint Paisios, and other spiritual fathers have spoken about the spiritual struggle of the soul after death and the importance of preparing ourselves while we are still alive.
We must therefore ask Christ to reveal our sins to us so that we may sincerely repent and confess them to our spiritual father.
The path to salvation requires repentance, humility, and confession.
Remember: blessed is the person who is not ashamed to confess the truth to his or her spiritual father.
And what about those who have already departed this life?
We must pray for them. We must offer memorial services, give alms in their memory, and ask God to grant them mercy and rest.
These are among the spiritual means by which we can help those who have departed. They can no longer change the course of their earthly lives, but we who remain can remember them in prayer and entrust them to the mercy of God.
We are not without sin. None of us is perfect.
But we can repent.
Let us therefore prepare our souls today, while we still have time, through prayer, confession, humility, forgiveness, and love for God and our fellow human beings.
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