When she was young and newly married, some 35 years before, she became pregnant at a time when her family was in the greatest financial straits. The other members of the family pressed her to have an abortion, but she refused absolutely. Eventually, however, due to the threats of her mother-in-law, she gave in against her will, and the operation was performed. The medical supervision of the illicit operation was very primitive, with the result that she caught a serious infection, and within the space of a few days died, without being able to confess her sin.
At the moment of death, which occurred in the evening, she felt her soul part from the body in the way that is usually described; her soul remained nearby and watched the body being washed, clothed and placed in the coffin. In the morning, she followed the procession to the church, watched the funeral, and saw the coffin loaded into the hearse for transfer to the cemetery. The soul was as though flying a small height above the body.
Suddenly there appeared in the road two “deacons,” as she described them, in shining white sticharia and oraria. One of them was reading a scroll. As the car approached, he held up his hand, and the car ground to a halt. The driver got out to see what was wrong with the motor, and in the meanwhile the angels started to converse. The one holding the scroll, which was clearly the record of her sins, looked up from his reading and said: “It is sad, she has a very serious sin on her list, and is bound for hell, since she did not confess it.” “Yes,” said the other, “but it is a pity that she should be punished, as she did not want to do it, but was forced into it by her family.” “Very well,” replied the first, “the only thing to do is to send her back to be able to confess her sin and repent of it.”
With these words, she felt herself being drawn back into her body, for which at that moment she felt an indescribable disgust and repulsion. After a moment, she came to, and started to knock on the inside of the coffin, which had been closed. The scene that followed can be imagined.
After hearing her history, which I have set forth in brief, I gave her Holy Communion, and departed giving glory to God who had permitted me to hear it. Being a matter of confession, I cannot tell you her name, but can inform you that she is still alive. If you feel it would be edifying, you certainly have my permission to publish it.
3. The “Dead” Appear in Contemporary Moscow
By Priest Dimitry Dudko85
They say that many are complaining now, especially women: the dead are coming at night.
A woman buried her husband. Yes, she suffered a lot, she wept. She couldn’t sleep.
At twelve midnight she heard someone putting a key in the door, a scraping of feet; someone came to her bed.
“Valya, it is I.”
She jumped up in fear. Yes — before her was her dead husband; a conversation began.
The next night she waited in great fear. He came the next night also.
People told her: You’re dreaming. Educated people told her: You’re having hallucinations because of your sufferings. Psychiatrists took her under observation....
But what is this, after all? A person is basically normal, but here there is something abnormal. Hallucinations ... But what is a hallucination? Or is it simply some kind of apparition?
Here is a daughter. Her mother died long ago; she isn’t even thinking of her, and suddenly — her mother comes, at first alone, then with some kind of children.
A previously happy daughter now has become gloomy.
The daughter was taken to a hospital and treated. But treated for what?
Do we understand what this is about?
Here is a woman who is very disturbed and is thinking of killing herself. She is gloomy. Suddenly someone comes in and goes up to her.
“Vera, what are you thinking of!” A conversation begins, a good, heartfelt conversation.
The woman calms down. The woman who came goes away. After she leaves the woman comes to herself and thinks: how did she come — isn’t it late? She looks at the clock — it is 2 a.m. She goes to the door — it is locked.
The next day she checks — did that woman really come to her? She had not visited those people for a long time, five years. They answer. The woman who had come in the night — has been dead for a long time. That means — she came from the other world. This woman feels good.
The first two incidents are alarming, causing fear; the last incident has a calming effect.
Unbelievers will say about both types of incidents: a hallucination, a disordered imagination....
When people don’t know what to say, they say: a hallucination, imagination. But does this explain anything?
Let us give another example.
A pilot crashes, and his wife has a dream: “Give me two rubles.”
The wife pays no attention; she has the same dream over and over. She begins to be alarmed. She asks: why is this happening?
Some say: pay no attention; but this doesn’t calm her. Previously she had never gone to church or thought about God; but now she turns to church people. They advise her to have a pannikhida served. She doesn’t know how to do it. They explain to her. She orders a pannikhida and asks: “How much does it cost?”
“Two rubles.”
And so here is the meaning of the dream: “Give me two rubles.”
After the pannikhida the dreams stopped.
In our time the boundaries of this world and the other world begin to become confused.86 What I have related here is no invention of mine, and not something recited from books; it is what has occurred in our own life, and not so long ago.
We have ceased thinking about the resurrection of the dead, and therefore the dead give us no repose....
What is death? Is there life there? As long as everything seems all right with us, we do not think about these questions. But there are cases when suddenly the boundaries of this world are torn away and a man sees something that later overturns his whole consciousness.
Perhaps some of you have read in a pre-revolutionary book how a certain person, by the name of Uekskuell, suddenly found himself in the other world; he later described all this himself.87 And before this he had even been an atheist; he did not accept life after death and laughed at those who did accept it.
He saw his own body which he had left, and the people gathered around it. It seemed strange to him why they had gathered there. After all, he was not there, but here. He wanted to tell them about this, but his voice was lost in emptiness; they didn’t hear him. He wanted to touch them with his hand, but his hand went right through them without touching them.
Just imagine what it would be like to be in such a situation.
We will not say what he saw, but after this vision, when returned again to his body, he abandoned all pleasures and dedicated himself to God....
85
Translated from his
86
Compare the statement of St. Gregory the Dialogist over 1300 years ago (see above, pp. 164-65): “As the present world approaches its end, the world of eternity looms nearer.... The end of the world merges with the beginning of eternal life.... The spiritual world is moving closer to us, manifesting itself through visions and revelations.” The end of this world’s existence began with the coming of Christ, and sensitive souls are always seeing how the other world is “breaking into” this world ahead of time and giving “hints” of its existence.
87
Many excerpts from this book, “Unbelievable for Many but Actually a True Occurrence,” are given above; see Index.