It should be kept in mind that this description of the first two days of death constitutes a general rule which by no means covers all cases. In fact, most of the examples quoted from Orthodox literature in the course of this book do not fit this rule, and for an obvious reason: the saints, being not at all attached to the things of this world and living in constant expectation of their passage to the other world, are not attracted even to the places of their good deeds, but immediately begin their ascent to heaven. Others, like K. Uekskuell, begin their ascent before the end of the two days because of some special reason in God’s Providence. On the other hand, the contemporary “after-death” experiences, fragmentary as they are, all do fit into this rule: the “out-of-body” state is but the beginning of the soul’s initial period of bodiless “wandering” to the places of its earthly attachments; but none of these people has been dead long enough even to meet the angels who are to accompany them.
Some critics of the Orthodox teaching on life after death find such variations from the general rule of after-death experience to be proof of “contradictions” in the Orthodox teaching; but such critics are simply too literal-minded. The description of the first two days (and of the succeeding days as well) is by no means any kind of dogma; it is merely a “model” which indeed sets forth the most common order of the soul’s experiences after death. The many cases, both in Orthodox literature and in accounts of modern experiences, where the dead have momentarily appeared to the living within the first day or two after death (sometimes in dreams) are examples of the truth that the soul does indeed usually remain close to earth for some short period.69 By the third day (and often sooner), this period comes to an end.
THE TOLL-HOUSES
At this time (the third day), it passes through legions of evil spirits which obstruct its path and accuse it of various sins, to which they themselves had tempted it. According to various revelations there are twenty such obstacles, the so-called “toll-houses,” at each of which one or another form of sin is tested; after passing through one the soul comes upon the next one, and only after successfully passing through all of them can the soul continue its path without being immediately cast into gehenna. How terrible these demons and their toll-houses are may be seen in the fact that the Mother of God Herself, when informed by the Archangel Gabriel of Her approaching death, begged Her Son to deliver Her soul from these demons and, answering Her prayer, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared from heaven to receive the soul of His Most Pure Mother and conduct it to heaven.70 Terrible indeed is the third day for the soul of the departed, and for this reason it especially needs prayers then for itself.
Chapter Six above has set forth a number of the Patristic and hagiographical texts on the toll-houses, and there is no need to add to them here. Here again, however, we may note that descriptions of the toll-houses constitute a “model” of the soul’s experiences after death, and individual experiences of them may vary considerably. Minor details such as the number of the toll-houses are, of course, quite secondary compared to the primary fact that the soul does indeed experience a judgment (the Particular Judgment) soon after death as a final summary of the “unseen warfare” it has conducted (or failed to conduct) on earth against the fallen spirits.
Bishop Theophan the Recluse writes, continuing the letter to the brother of the woman who was about to die:
“In the departed there soon begins the struggle of going through the toll-houses. Here she needs help! Stand then in this thought, and you will hear her cry to you: ‘Help!’ This is where you should direct all your attention and all your love for her. I think that it will be the truest testimony of love if, from the minute of the soul’s departure, leaving concern for the body to others, you will go off and, being by yourself wherever you can, you will immerse yourself in prayer for her in her new condition and her new, unexpected needs. Having begun thus, remain in unceasing crying out to God to help her, for the course of six weeks, and indeed for longer than that. In the account of Theodora, the bag from which the angels took in order to be separated from the tax-collectors was the prayers of her elder. Your prayers will be the same; do not forget to do this. This is love!”
The “bag of gold” with which the angels “paid the debts” of Blessed Theodora at the toll-houses has often been misunderstood by critics of the Orthodox teaching; it is sometimes mistakenly compared to the Latin notion of the “excess merits” of saints. Again, such critics are too literal-minded in their reading of Orthodox texts. Nothing else is referred to here than the prayers of the Church for the reposed, in particular the prayers of a holy man and spiritual father. The form in which this is described — it should hardly be necessary to say — is metaphorical.
The Orthodox Church regards the teaching of the toll-houses as of such importance that it has included references to it in many of its Divine services (see a few of these above in the chapter on the toll-houses). In particular, the Church makes a special point of presenting this teaching to each one of its children who are dying; in the “Canon on the Departure of the Soul,” read by the priest at the deathbed of each of the faithful, there are the following troparia:
“As I depart from earth, vouchsafe me to pass unhindered by the prince of the air, the persecutor, the tormenter, he who stands on the frightful paths and is their unjust interrogator” (Canticle 4).
“Translate me, O Sovereign Lady, into the sacred and precious hands of the holy angels, that being covered by their wings, I may not see the shameless and foul and dark form of the demons” (Canticle 6).
“O Thou Who gavest birth to the Lord Almighty, remove far from me the chief of the bitter toll-houses, the ruler of the world, when I am about to die, that I may glorify Thee forever, O Holy Theotokos” (Canticle 8).
Thus, the Orthodox Christian in dying is prepared by the Church’s words for the trials in front of him.
THE FORTY DAYS
Then, having successfully passed through the toll-houses and bowed down before God, the soul for the course of 37 more days visits the heavenly habitations and the abysses of hell, not knowing yet where it will remain, and only on the fortieth day is its place appointed until the resurrection of the dead.
It is certainly not strange that the soul, having passed through the toll-houses and finished for good with earthly things, should then be introduced to the truly other world, in one part of which it will spend eternity. According to the revelation of the angel to St. Macarius of Alexandria, the Church’s special commemoration of the departed on the ninth day after death (apart from the general symbolism of the nine ranks of angels) occurs because up to then the soul is shown the beauties of Paradise, and only after this, for the remainder of the forty days, is it shown the torments and horrors of hell, before being assigned on the fortieth day to the place where it will await the resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment. These numbers, once again, constitute a general rule, or “model” of after-death reality, and undoubtedly not all the departed complete their course precisely according to the “rule.” We do know that Theodora, in fact, completed her “tour of hell” just on the fortieth day — as time is measured on earth (Eternal Mysteries, pp. 83-84).
69
For some examples, see