The soul passes through air stations or toll booths (customs) after death
For the torture of souls that pass through the air after death, courts and guards have been established by the dark powers in an impeccable order. In the layers of the sky, from the earth to the very sky, there are ranks of guards of fallen spirits. Each department deals with a special type of sin and torments the soul in it when the soul falls into that jurisdiction. The demonic air guards and courts are called tollhouses (tax collectors) in the writings of the Fathers, and the spirits who serve in them are called tax collectors (tax collectors).
At the time of Christ, and in the first centuries of His Church, the collector of state taxes was called a publican (tax collector). Since this duty, according to the simplicity of ancient customs, was entrusted to a person without established responsibility and accountability, the publicans allowed themselves all means of violence, various forms of cunning, petty squandering, endless abuse and inhuman robbery. They usually stopped at the city gates, in the markets and other public places, so that no one could escape their watchful eye. The behavior of the publicans made them a fear and trembling for the people. For the people, the name publican meant a man without feelings, without rules, ready for any crime, for any base action, who breathes and lives by it, that is, a rejected man. In this sense, the Lord compared the persistent and hopeless offender of the Church with the pagan and the publican.[ 1 ]
To the Old Testament worshippers of the true God, nothing was more abhorrent than the service of idols, and the publican was equally abhorrent to them. The name publican was transferred from men to the demons who guard the way from earth to heaven, according to the similarity of the duties they perform. As sons and trustees of lies, demons not only confront the souls of men with their misdeeds and sins, but also accuse them of things they have never done. They resort to fabrications and lies, combining slander with shamelessness and impudence, in order to snatch the soul from the hands of angels and thereby increase the countless number of prisoners of hell.[ 2 ]
The teaching on tolls is the teaching of the Holy True Orthodox Church of Christ.[ 3 ] There is no doubt that the Holy Apostle Paul speaks of them when he declares that Christians are about to have a battle with the spirits of evil in the air. We encounter this teaching in the oldest church tradition and in church services. The Most Holy Virgin, the Mother of God, informed by the Archangel Gabriel of her departure from this world, offered prayers with tears to the Lord for the deliverance of her soul from the crafty spirits of the air. When the very hour of her glorious Assumption arrived, when her Son and God Himself descended to her with a multitude of angels and righteous spirits, she, before entrusting her most holy soul into the holy hands of Christ, uttered in prayer to Him the following words: "Now receive my spirit in peace, and keep me from the domain of darkness, so that no glance of Satan may meet me."[ 4 ]
Saint Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria, in his biography of the God-pleasing Anthony the Great, narrates this: "Once he (Anthony), when the ninth hour had come, and he began to pray before eating, was suddenly taken up by the Spirit and carried up by angels to a height. The demons of the air opposed his path, and the angels, arguing with them, sought reasons for their opposition, for Anthony had no sins. The demons tried to bring up the sins that he had committed from his very birth, but the angels stopped the mouths of the slanderers, telling them that they should not enumerate his sins from birth, which had been smoothed out by the grace of Christ, but should show, if they could, the sins committed after the time when he had consecrated himself to God by entering into monasticism. Accusing him, the demons cited many shameless lies, but since their slanders were devoid of evidence, a free path was opened to Anthony. At that moment he came to himself and saw that he was in the same place where he had stood for prayer. Forgetting about food, he spent the whole night in tears and sobs, thinking about the multitude of human enemies, about the fight with such an army, about the arduous journey to heaven through the air and about the words of the apostle Paul who said: For our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms [ 5 ] who, knowing that the powers of the air are seeking this very thing, are concerned with it with all their might, exerting themselves and directing their efforts to deprive us of a free passage to heaven, he advises us: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, [ 6 ] so that the adversary may be ashamed, having nothing bad to say about us. [ 7 ]
Saint John Chrysostom, having said that when dying, even if he were a great lord on earth, he is overcome with confusion, fear, and uncertainty when he sees the terrible angelic forces and the opposing forces that come to separate the soul from the body, adds: "Then we need many prayers, many helpers, many good deeds, and great intercession of angels on the journey through the airspace. If, traveling to a foreign country or a foreign city, we seek a guide: how much more do we need guides and helpers to lead us past the invisible elders and authorities who rule those airspaces, who are also called persecutors and tax collectors and tax collectors!"
In the name of the dead Christian children, Chrysostom also testifies thus: "The holy angels peacefully separated us from the body, and we freely passed by the rulers and the authorities of the air. We had reliable leaders! The cunning spirits did not find what they sought; they did not see in us what they wanted to see. Seeing the body undefiled, they were ashamed; seeing the soul pure, far from all malice, they were ashamed; they found no wicked words in us, and they were silent. We passed by and destroyed them; we passed through them and trampled them down; the trap was broken, and we were delivered. Blessed is the Lord who did not give us to their teeth to tear us to pieces [ 8 ] When this was over, the angels, our guides, rejoiced greatly; they began to kiss us, justified, and to say in joy: "Lambs of God! Blessed is your arrival here; the ancestral paradise has opened to you; The arms of Abraham are extended to you! The right hand of the Lord has received you; His voice has called you to his right hand! With his eyes of favor he has looked upon you; he has written you in the book of life.'' And we said: ''Lord! Righteous Judge! You have deprived us of earthly treasures, do not deprive us of heavenly ones! You have separated us from our fathers and mothers, do not separate us from Your Saints. The signs of baptism have been preserved intact on us; we offer our bodies to You pure, as Your true children!''[ 9 ]
The God-pleasing Macarius the Great says: "Listen to how under the heavens there are rivers of serpents, the mouths of lions, the powers of darkness, the burning fire that brings all beings into confusion. Do you not know that these, if you do not receive the pledge of the Holy Spirit, will seize your soul at your departure from the body and prevent you from ascending to heaven?" [ 10 ]
The Holy Great Martyr Eustratius, having suffered terrible blows and tortures, and after the wonderful miracles he performed, before the execution of the death penalty for his steadfast and strong confession of Christ, offered a prayer to God, in which he first glorified God who looked upon him and granted him during his earthly suffering to overcome the invisible devil, the devil; and then he moved on to the impending separation of the soul from the body, saying: "My soul was troubled and distraught at its departure from this sinful and unclean body, may the cunning devil not catch it in anything and cast it into darkness because of the invisible and visible sins I committed during this life! Lord! Be merciful to me, and may my soul not see the dark faces of cunning demons, but may Your bright and most bright angels accept it! Glorify Your holy name, and by Your power raise me to Your divine judgment seat! When I am judged, may the hand of the prince of the darkness of this world not seize me, a sinner, and cast me into the depths of hell: but present me to You and be my salvation and advocate. And these bodily torments are joys for Your servants.''
In a similar way, the holy great martyr George, who by the grace of Christ endured all the most terrible tortures, invented by the malice of the torturers, who raised the dead before their eyes and overthrew idols in the name of the Lord, when he came to the place of punishment, poured out this prayer before his death: "Blessed be the Lord my God, who has not delivered me into the jaws of my hunters and has not allowed my enemies to rejoice over me, who has delivered my soul, like a bird from the snare of the hunters! Lord! And now hear me: Be with me at the hour of my death, and deliver my soul from the snares of the prince of the air, that terrible adversary, and his unclean spirits. And do not write as sin those who have sinned against me in ignorance, but grant them your forgiveness and love, so that they too, having come to know you, may receive a share with your chosen ones in your Kingdom." [ 11 ]
The great pleaser of God, Saint Niphon, bishop of the Cypriot city of Constantia, once standing in prayer, saw the heavens open and a multitude of angels, some of whom were descending to earth, and others ascending upward, raising human souls to the heavenly families. He carefully observed this scene and saw two angels striving upward, carrying the soul. When they approached the fornication tax office, the demons of fornication came out and angrily said: "That soul is ours!" How dare you carry her past us, when she is ours?!” The angels asked: “On what basis is this claim of yours based?” And the demons replied: “Until her death she sinned, defiling herself not only with natural but also with unnatural sins, and she also condemned her neighbor, and what is worse than all, she died without repentance: what will you say to that?” The angels replied: “Truly, we will not believe you or your father, Satan, until we ask the guardian angel of this soul. The guardian angel, who was asked, said: “Truly, this man sinned much, but as soon as he became ill, he immediately began to cry and confess his sins to God. Whether God forgave him, that is for Him to decide. It is His authority, glory be to His righteous judgment.” Then the angels, despising the accusations of the demons, entered the gates of heaven. Then the blessed one saw another soul carried by angels. The demons came to them and cried out: "Why do you carry souls without our knowledge, like this one, a lover of gold, a fornicator, a quarrelsome one, and a robber?" The angels answered: "We certainly know that, even though she fell into all this, she still cried, sighed, confessed, and gave alms, and God granted her forgiveness." The demons said: "If this soul is worthy of God's mercy, then take the sinners of the whole world; we have nothing to do here." Then the angels answered them: "All sinners who humbly and with tears confess their sins receive forgiveness by the grace of God; but those who die without repentance will be judged by God." Thus, having put the demons to shame, they passed by. Again the saint saw the soul of a God-loving man, honorable, merciful, beloved by all, being lifted up. The demons stood at a distance and gnashed their teeth at that soul, and the angels of God came out through the gates of heaven to meet it, and greeting it, they cried out: "Glory to You, Christ God, that You did not give it into the hands of the enemy, but delivered it from hell!"
Blessed Niphon also saw demons dragging a soul towards hell. It was the soul of a slave whom his master had tortured with hunger and beatings and who, unable to endure the torture, drowned himself, being persuaded by the devil. The guardian angel walked away and wept bitterly; and the demons rejoiced. Then a command came from God to the weeping angel to go to Rome, in order to take charge of a newborn child who was being baptized at that time. Again the saint saw a soul carried through the air by angels, which the demons had snatched from them at the fourth tollhouse, and cast into the abyss. It was the soul of a man given to fornication, sorcery, and robbery, who had died suddenly without repentance or conversion.[ 12 ]
God-pleasing Simeon, a fool for Christ's sake, having reached the height of Christian perfection, telling his secretary, the deacon John, about his approaching death and the great reward in heaven, shown to him by revelation from above, he said: "I do not know anything in myself that could be worthy of a heavenly reward, except that the Lord wants to bless me with His grace. Know that you too will soon be taken from here, therefore take care, as much as you have strength, of your soul, so that you may succeed in safely passing through the realm of the spirits of the air and escaping the angry hand of the prince of darkness. My Lord knows that I too am seized with great sorrow and great fear, until I pass by those terrible places where all the deeds and words of man are examined." [ 13 ]
Blessed John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, spoke constantly about death and the exit of the soul from the body, ever since the God-pleasing Simeon the Stolpnik had revealed this to him: “When the soul leaves the body,” he said, “and begins to ascend to heaven, it is met by the presence of demons, and subjected to many tortures. They abuse it for lies, slander, anger, wrath, grudge, hardness, shameful words, disobedience, bribery, avarice, drunkenness, gluttony, revenge, fortune-telling, hatred, murder, theft, mercilessness, fornication, adultery. During the soul’s journey from earth to heaven, not even the holy angels themselves can help it: only its repentance, its good deeds, and above all its alms that it has done during its life help it. If we do not repent here for some sin, out of forgetfulness, then through almsgiving we can be freed from the violence of demonic tolls. Brothers! Knowing this, let us be afraid of the bitter hour of encountering cruel and merciless publicans, the hour when we will be in doubt how to answer our tormentors. Here, let us repent for all our sins, let us give, according to our means, alms that can take us from earth to heaven and deliver us from the possession of demons. Their hatred for us is great, great fear awaits us in the air, great trouble!''[ 14 ]
Simeon the Steeple, who revealed the tolls to the patriarch, was a Divnogorsk, a contemporary of the patriarch, only older than him. A fragment of a teaching composed by Saint Simeon himself has come down to us, where he speaks of the afterlife portion of Christians. In this teaching, the God-pleasing one first reveals that it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit about a small number of those who are saved, about a small number of those who are protected by angelic hands at the present time, that is, during the life of the God-pleasing one.
He goes on to say that the angels receive the pure and righteous soul with love, comfort it, and lift it up with song, driving away the demonic power and exalting it above the reach of the toll booths. On the other hand, the sinful soul does not allow itself to soar into the regions above the air: the devil has reason to accuse it. He argues with the angels who carry it, pointing out its sins, because of which it must belong to him, and alleging its insufficiency in that degree of virtue which is necessary for salvation and for free passage through the air.[ 15 ]
The God-pleasing John of Raitsky, in his epistle to the God-pleasing John Climacus, mentions the princes of the air, the powerful ones of this world, the spirits of evil, wishing that the soul-beneficial teachings of the Sinai Lighthouse would guide the monks to the gates of heaven and preserve them from the dark powers that prevent the ascent to heaven. Saint John Climacus says that the fallen monks, offering deep and constant repentance, among their other words, filled with compassion and accompanied by sighs, said this: "Will our soul cross the turbulent water of the spirits of the air?" They spoke thus, because they could not yet sense certainty, but were observing from afar what was happening at the toll booths of the air.[ 16 ]
The God-pleasing Isaiah the Hermit in his testament commanded his disciples: "Every day they have death before their eyes and to worry about how they will leave the body and how they will pass by the power of darkness, which will await us in the air." [ 17 ] In the 17th lesson he says: "Think, what joy the soul of one who has given himself to serve God and who performs this service! At his departure from this world, his works will strive for him; the angels, seeing him delivered from the power of darkness, will rejoice over him. When the soul leaves the body, the angels accompany it, and the dark forces go to meet it, wanting to detain it, and torment it, in order to find something of their own in it. Then the angels do not fight against the enemy, but the works that the soul has accomplished, they fence it off and guard it from demons, not allowing them to approach it. If its works triumph, then the angels sing songs of praise to it and lead it with joy before the face of God. At that moment, she forgets everything that belongs to earthly life and all the pains she endured. Let us carefully make sure that during this short life we do good in every way and keep it unharmed from evil, so that we can save ourselves from the hands of the princes of darkness who await us: they are cunning and merciless. Blessed is the one in whom nothing that belongs to them will be found: his joy, peace, joy and crown are beyond all measure.''[ 18 ]
A certain monk living in the monastery of the elder Seridus, where in confinement the great pleaser of God, the elder Barsanuphius, lived in prayerful silence, approaching his death, prayed to this holy elder to accompany him through the air on that path that he (the dying monk) did not know. The great Barsanuphius answered him: "Brother! I entrust you to Christ, who willingly died for us, the Lord of heaven and earth and all that exists, that He may alleviate the fear of death in your eyes and make the free passage of your soul.[ 19 ]
The God-pleasing Father Dorotheus, a teacher in the monasticism of this same monastery, writes in one of his epistles: "In the case of insensitivity (hardness) of the soul, it is useful to frequently read the Divine Scriptures and the sweet words of the God-bearing Fathers, to remember the Last Judgment of God, the departure of the soul from the body, and the terrible forces that must meet it, with whose complicity it committed evil in this short and miserable life." [ 20 ]
Saint John of Carpathia, comforting the monks of India who were simultaneously suffering great persecution from visible and invisible enemies and were approaching the ruin of despair, says this: "The devil, that bitter and terrible slanderer in its sins, making war and injuring, boldly attacks the soul that has left the body. Then the God-loving and faithful soul, even if it is injured by many sins, will not be afraid of attacks and threats. Strengthened by the Lord, protected by the wings of joy, supported by the holy Powers that instruct it, fenced in by the light of faith, it confronts the cunning devil with great boldness and answers him: "What have I to do with you, who are a stranger to God? What have I to do with you, you fugitive from heaven and servant of evil? You have no power over me: power over me and over all belongs to Christ, the Son of God. Before Him we have sinned, and to Him we will give an answer, having His honorable cross as a pledge of His mercy towards us and our salvation. Destroyer! Flee far from us: there is nothing in common between you and the servants of Christ!'' When the soul fearlessly speaks thus, the devil takes to flight and cries: ''I cannot resist the name of Christ!'' And the soul rises above the demons. And after that, the divine angels joyfully carry it to the places assigned to it according to the degree of its spiritual age.''[ 21 ]
"The soul, when after death it ascends through the air to the gates of heaven," says Saint Hesychius, "having Christ with it and within it, will not be so afraid of its enemies, but will boldly, as here, answer the door. Only that it may not weaken until its end, it cries out day and night to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will avenge it for it soon, according to His true and divine promise, shown in the story of the unjust judge. I tell you the truth, He will avenge it both in this life and at the exit of the soul from the body. The hour of death will overtake us, it will come, and it will be impossible to avoid it. Oh, if the prince of the world and the air, who will then have to meet us, would find that our iniquities are null and insignificant and that he cannot deform us as he intended! Otherwise, we will cry in vain.
The servant, says the Scripture, who knows the will of his Lord, and does not do it, will be beaten with many stripes. [ 22 ] He who is born blind does not see the light: so he who does not abide in understanding does not see the riches of the shining of the highest grace, and will not be free from cunning and God-hateful deeds, words, and thoughts. Such a one, at the time of death, will not freely pass by the princes of Tartarus.''[ 23 ]
God-pleasing Theognostus: "Inexpressible and inexpressible is the joy of that soul which separates itself from the body with the certainty of its salvation. It takes off the body, as if it were a garment. In firm conviction it receives what has already been received by engagement, without sorrow it lays aside the body, calmly goes out of it to the angel sent for it from above, light and silent. Accompanied by this angel, it walks without obstacles through the air, not at all disturbed by evil spirits; joyfully and boldly it ascends, shouting thanksgiving to God, and finally arrives to worship its Creator. There is expressed about her the determination that she should be placed with her equals in virtue where she will dwell with them until the general resurrection.''[ 24 ] ''If you, by steadfastly dwelling in pure prayer that unites the unearthly mind with God, have been worthy to see, as in a mirror, the blessed state that awaits you after the end of this life, you have been worthy of this, having received the pledge of the Spirit and having acquired the heavenly kingdom within you with a radiantly clear and determined feeling of the soul, by no means consent to be released from the body without being announced by the announcement of the approaching death. Pray diligently for this and be filled with good hope that you will receive this announcement when your end approaches, if that is useful. Always prepare for death, removing all fear; always prepare yourself, so that you may succeed in passing through the airy expanse, to avoid the crafty spirits, to enter boldly and fearlessly into the heavenly environment, to join the ranks of the angels, to multiply in yourself the image of all the chosen and righteous, to see God, how attainable that vision is.''[ 25 ] The spiritual feeling, of which the God-pleasing Theognostus speaks, is quite rightly called, in the writings of the Fathers, a report, according to the quality of undoubted authenticity. It arises from the arrival of divine grace that receives into the spiritual bosom of the fathers the repentant sinner. It appears in the soul unexpectedly, as a new life, of which man could not have formed any concept in himself until then. It frees the soul from the violence of crafty spirits and passions, changes the whole man, unites him with God, introduces the whole man into the miraculous prayer that the Spirit of God directs to God from man. All the bones of such a man will say with unutterable spiritual praise and thanksgiving: Lord, Lord, who is like You, who delivers the poor from the hand of the oppressor, the poor and needy from those who destroy them? This spiritual feeling is so strong that, filling a man with itself, it erases in him feelings for all other things: in short, it is the vestibule of the Kingdom of God in the soul. Whoever has acquired this feeling no longer lives for himself, but for God,[ 26 ] turning entirely to Him and having Him within him. In those who have exposed themselves to self-deception and demonic deception, the opinion of such a feeling appears , and it is distinguished from the gracious and contrary fruits.
"Take heed, my soul," the Scythian monk Evagrius touchingly addresses himself, "and think how you will bear your sudden separation from the body when the terrible angels come for you and seize you at an hour you do not expect and at a time you do not know! What works will you send up into the air, when your enemies who dwell in the air will question you about your works?" [ 27 ]
Thus the holy saints of God felt and spoke: they understood and explored the depth of the fall of man; they understood and explored the power of demons over people, which arose from that fall.
The prisoner of Zadon, Georgaje, describes to us an event that happened almost in our time: Archimandrite Barsanufia (Zadon monastery) was in a state of numbness for three evenings. During that time, his soul was in the air tolls, undergoing torture for all the sins committed since his youth, but he heard the voice of God: "Because of the prayers of the Holy Mother of God, the holy martyr Moki and the stratified Andrew, his sins are forgiven and time is given for repentance."[ 28 ]
The teaching on toll booths, similar to the teaching on the abode of heaven and hell, is found as a generally known and generally accepted teaching in all areas of the worship of the Orthodox Church. She proclaims it and reminds her children in order to sow in their hearts a soul-saving fear and prepare them for a blessed and successful transition from temporal life to eternal. In the supplication canon to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, which is read at the death of every Orthodox, [ 29 ] it is said: " The prince of the air, the oppressor, the tormentor, the interceptor on the terrible paths, and all the empty words of the interrogators, grant me to pass by unscathed, departing from the earth." [ 30 ]
"To avoid the regiments of incorporeal enemies and to free myself from the airy abyss, and to ascend to the heavens, honor me."[ 31 ]
"Take away from me the bitter tax collector, the prince of this world." [ 32 ]
In the cell rule, in the prayers after the kathisma, the Church instructs the prayer book to recite these petitions: "My Lord, Lord, grant me tears of repentance, so that I may beg You with them to cleanse me from every sin before death: for I will have to pass through a terrible and awful place, separated from the body, where a dark multitude and cruel demons await me." [ 33 ]
"Perfect me with Your perfection, and so bring me out of this present life, that I may pass by the principles and powers of darkness untouched, so that, by Your grace, I too may behold the unspeakable goodness of Your unapproachable glory." [ 34 ]
In the prayers before the kondaks and ikos of the akathist to the Mother of God, one reads: "O Mother of the King of heaven and earth! Beg forgiveness for all my sins, grant correction to my life, and at death unhindered passage from the enemies of the air ." [ 35 ] "The dead are revived by You (Mother of God), for You have given birth to life in the hypostasis: those who were mute begin to speak, lepers are cleansed, the sick are healed, multitudes of the spirits of the air are defeated. " [ 36 ]
In the Octave, the following prayers are addressed to the Mother of God: "At the hour of my death, O Virgin, deliver me from the hand of the demon , and from judgment, and from corruption, and from terrible torment, and from bitter tolls , and from the angry prince, and from eternal damnation." [ 37 ] "O Most Pure, deliver me from the torment of the demon at the hour of my death." [ 38 ] "At the hour of my death, O Virgin, deliver me from the hand of the demon , and from judgment, and from answering, and from questioning, and from terrible tolls , and from the angry prince, and from eternal fire." [ 39 ] "O Virgin and Mother of the Deliverer, at the hour of my departure, stand before me, tormented by the spirits of the air for all that I have done with an unreasonable thought." [ 40 ] "When my soul is separated from the body's union, then approach me, O Most Pure Virgin, and destroy the counsels of my incorporeal enemies, and break the jaws of those who seek to devour me mercilessly: that I may pass untouched through the air where the prince of darkness dwells. ''[ 41 ]
In the "Act of the Separation of the Soul from the Body When a Man Suffers Long", we read: "Now all the days of my life have passed away like smoke behind me, and angels will approach, sent by God, to search my wretched soul mercilessly." [ 42 ] "A multitude of cunning spirits will approach, who keep many records of my sins and call, seeking to mercilessly subdue my soul." [ 43 ] "Bless me, holy angels of God Almighty, and deliver me from the tolls of all the cunning. " [ 44 ] In the Canon to the Guardian Angel it is written: "May shame and disgrace cover the dark and stinking faces of the devils when my soul is separated from the body." [ 45 ] "Grant me to see you, when the time of my departure comes, standing at the right hand of my wretched soul, driving away the terrible demons with song. ''[ 46 ] ''I beg you, my provider, be my protector and unassailable advocate, when I pass through the toll booths of the angry peacekeeper. ''[ 47 ]
In the second prayer to Saint Nicholas: "At the end of my soul, help me, wretched one: beseech the Lord, the Creator of all things, to deliver me from the tolls of the air and eternal torment." [ 48 ]
Requests for deliverance from air tolls are included in the prayer to God-pleasing Sergej of Radonezh and in prayers to other saints.
The God-pleasing Theodosius of Pechersk, feeling the extreme exhaustion of illness, lay down on his bed and said: "May the will of God be done: as He wills concerning me, so let Him do. But I beg You, my Lord, Jesus Christ, be merciful to my soul, that it may not be intercepted by the cunning of opposing spirits, but that Your angels may receive it, and, leading it through the dark tolls, bring it to the light of Your mercy." [ 49 ]
Saint Dimitriy of Rostov prayed: "When the terrible hour of the separation of my soul from my body comes, then, my Redeemer, receive it into Your hands and preserve it unharmed from all adversity, and may my soul not see the dark faces of cunning demons , but may it pass all tolls saved. " [ 50 ]
A detailed description of the toll booths and the order in which they follow one another in the airy abyss will be taken from the history of the God-pleasing Theodora. She, leaving her breathless body on earth, under the guidance of two holy angels, began, as we have already seen, a journey through the air towards the East.
As she ascended to heaven, she was intercepted by the dark spirits of the first tollhouse, where human sins committed by word are examined, such as: foolishness, vulgarity, mockery, insults, singing passionate and indecent songs and hymns, indecent shouting, loud laughter, and the like. To a great extent, man does not count these sins as nothing, does not repent of them before God, and does not confess them to his spiritual father. But the Lord clearly said: That for every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. [ 51 ] And the Apostle commands: Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, neither shameful nor foolish talking, nor jesting. [ 52 ] The demons fiercely and persistently accused the soul, presenting all its sins that it had committed by word from its youth; The holy angels refuted this and contrasted the good deeds that the soul had done with the sins.
In this way, Teodora, redeemed at this usury, began to ascend upwards and approached the second usury of lies, where every lie is investigated, violation of an oath, invocation of the name of God in vain, failure to fulfill the vows given to God, concealment of sins before the priest during confession.
Having escaped here too, she has reached the third toll of slander, where slandering one's neighbor, condemning, humiliating, shaming, mocking, and ridiculing him is examined, while forgetting one's own sins and shortcomings and not paying attention to them. Those who have exposed themselves to temptations of this kind are tortured (examined) with particular ferocity by angry tormentors, as antichrists, who take on the role of Christ and make themselves judges and executioners of their neighbors.
In the fourth toll of indulging the stomach , overeating, drunkenness, premature and secret eating, eating without prayer, breaking fasts, sensuality, satiety, feasting, in a word – all kinds of indulging the stomach are examined. After being delivered from this toll, Theodora, having become a little more cheerful, entered into conversation with the holy angels and said to them: “It seems to me that no one living on earth knows what is happening here and what awaits a sinful soul after death.” The holy angels replied to her: “Does not the word of God, which is read daily in churches and preached by the servants of God, speak of this? But those who are passionately bound to earthly vanity do not pay attention to the word of God, consider daily overeating and drunkenness to be pleasure, they are satiated and drunk without the fear of God, having their stomach as their god, not thinking about the future life, not looking back at the Scripture, which says: Woe to you who are full now, for you will go hungry. [ 53 ] They consider the Holy Scriptures a fable, live in carelessness and spaciousness, rejoice carelessly every day and feast to the sounds of music and the singing of weeds, similar to the rich man mentioned in the Gospel. However, those among them who are merciful, who do good to the poor and help the needy, will more easily receive from God the forgiveness of their sins, and because of their alms, they will pass through the toll booths safely. The Scripture says: Charity saves from death, and it cleanses all sin: he who does alms and justice is filled with life, but those who sin are enemies of their own life. [ 54 ] Those who do not take care to cleanse their sins with alms, it is impossible to escape the troubles at the toll booths: they are kidnapped by the publicans and thrown down, cruelly torturing them, into the depths of the dungeon of hell, where they are kept in chains until the terrible Judgment of Christ.''
Thus speaking, they reached the fifth toll of laziness.
All the days and hours spent in laziness, in neglecting to serve God were gathered there; there one examines despondency and laziness, neglect of church and cell prayer literature out of laziness, carelessness and coldness towards God; there they abuse the cashiers who live off other people's work and will not work hard on their own, as well as hired workers who receive a salary but neglect their duties.
This toll was followed by the sixth toll of theft, in which all kinds of kidnapping and theft, rough and light, public and secret, are investigated.
Then the seventh tax of avarice and stinginess.
A little further on is the eighth toll of usury , where usurers, usurers, and embezzlers are accused.
Still further is the ninth toll of injustice, where unjust judges are blamed, who were guided in the courts by partiality or reward, justifying the guilty and condemning the innocent; here the false scales and measurements of merchants and other injustices are revealed.
The tenth is the toll of envy, and those who have surrendered to this destructive passion and its consequences are tormented by it.
Above is the eleventh toll booth of pride, where haughty souls are scornfully abused for arrogance, vanity, self-doubt, conceit, haughtiness, failure to give due respect to parents, spiritual and civil authorities, and disobedience and disobedience to them.
Above is the twelfth toll of anger and rage.
Then the thirteenth toll booth of ill-will. Upon leaving this toll booth, Theodora asked the angels: "I beg you to tell me, how do these terrible airy powers know all the evil deeds of all the people who live throughout the earth, not only public, but also secret?" The holy angels answered her: "Every Christian receives from God at holy baptism a guardian angel who, invisibly guarding a person day and night, teaches him every good deed throughout his life until the very hour of death. He writes down all the good deeds of that person, for which he could receive mercy and eternal reward from the Lord in the heavenly kingdom. Likewise, the prince of darkness, who wants to drag the whole human race into his peril, assigns to a person one of the cunning spirits who follows a person everywhere, watches over all his evil deeds, incites him with his wiles and, visiting the toll booths, writes down all the sins of a person there, carrying each sin to the appropriate toll booth. This is how the sins of all people throughout the world are known to the air powers. And when the soul, having separated from the body, begins to strive towards heaven, towards its Creator, then the cunning spirits hinder it in this, accusing it of its sins, which are recorded with them. If the soul has more good deeds than sins, then they cannot detain it. If, however, they find more sins in it, then they detain it for a certain time and lock it in a dungeon so that it cannot see God; there they torture it, until the power of God allows them to torture it, and until that soul is redeemed by the prayers of the church and the alms of its neighbors. But if the soul proves to be so sinful and hateful before God that it has no hope of salvation left, but eternal perdition awaits it, then they immediately lower it into the abyss, where a place for eternal torment is prepared for themselves; They will keep it there until the second coming of Christ, after which the soul will be united with the body, and then together with it will be tormented in hell fire. Know also this, that only those who are enlightened by the holy true Orthodox Christian faith and washed by holy baptism go on this path and undergo torment on it. Idolaters, Muslims and all strangers to God do not come here: they, although alive in body, are already dead, and are buried in hell in soul. When they die, at the same time, without examination, the demons take them as a part that belongs to them, and lead them to hellish perdition.
After this story, Teodora ended up at the fourteenth homicide division, where not only robbery and murder are investigated, but also every blow, injury, and wound.
Above was the fifteenth toll booth of sorcery, where witchcraft, enchantment, the making of poison, magic, and the sorcerous invocation of demons were examined. At this toll booth they found nothing with which to accuse the blessed Theodora, and in fury they exclaimed to her: "You will come to the fornication toll booths, so let us see if you will avoid them?" Climbing even higher, she asked the holy angels: "Do all Christians pass this way, and none of them can pass without exposing themselves to torment and fear?" And the holy angels answered her: "There is no other way for Christian souls who go to heaven; all pass this way, but not all are tormented as the soul that has fallen into sins and has not fully confessed them, being ashamed of its spiritual father and hiding its shameful deeds from him. If someone truly confesses his sins, grieves over them and repents of the evil he has done, his sins are invisibly wiped away by the grace of God, and when the soul comes here, the aerial torturers, having spread out their books, find nothing in them,[ 55 ] whereupon they can neither grieve nor frighten it, and the soul ascends with joy to the Throne of Grace.''
Thus speaking, they arrived at the sixteenth fornication toll , where the act of fornication of every kind is examined, that is, the fornication of persons not bound by marriage; also mental imagination, consent to sin, delight in sin, lustful glances, impure touches and touches are examined. When Theodora came to this toll, the dark souls who belonged to it were greatly astonished that she had reached them, and they vehemently accused her, especially because of her lack of openness before her spiritual father.
Then they came to the seventeenth toll of adultery , where the lustful sins of persons who, while living in marriage, have not kept their conjugal fidelity and the marriage bed undefiled are investigated; here kidnappings and lustful violence are terribly punished, as well as the falls into lust of persons consecrated to God, who have promised their purity to God, but have broken their vow. After this is the eighteenth toll of Sodom, where all unnatural lustful sins and promiscuity are examined. When they had passed this toll, the holy Angels said to Theodora: "You have seen terrible and disgusting lustful tolls! Know that rarely does a soul pass them freely: The whole world lies in the evil of scandal and impurity, all people are lustful and love sin. The thought of the heart of man is evil from childhood? [ 56 ] and hardly anyone protects himself from the impurities of lust. There are few who mortify the lusts of the flesh, and few who pass these tolls freely! The great majority, having come here, perish: the wicked investigators of fornication seize the souls of fornicators and drag them to hell. The authorities of the fornication tolls boast that they themselves, more than all other tolls, fill hell with fiery fruit. Thank God, Theodora, that you have escaped these fornicating tormentors through the prayers of your father, the God-pleasing Basil: for you will no longer see fear.''
After that, they came to the nineteenth toll of heresy or heresy, where incorrect interpretation of the faith, doubt about the faith, deviation from the true Orthodox Christian faith, blasphemy, and similar sins against the only true confession of the faith of Christ are examined.
When they passed this toll booth, they were already approaching the gates of heaven, when they were intercepted by the evil spirits of the last twentieth toll booth of mercilessness , in which ruthlessness and cruelty are tested. If someone has accomplished many feats, fasts, vigils, adoration, worship; if he has preserved the purity of virginity intact and exhausted his body with abstinence, but if he has been merciless and closed his heart to his neighbor, such a one falls down from this toll booth and is locked in the abyss of hell for eternity.
Finally, with inexpressible joy, they approached the heavenly gates. The heavenly gates shone like crystal; an indescribable radiance poured from them, and on them stood young men with sun-like faces. Seeing the God-pleasing Theodora, led by angels, they were filled with joy for her, because, covered by God's mercy, she had escaped the aerial tolls, and with great love they led her through the gates. During her journey through the tolls, Theodora noticed that each toll was subject to a separate prince and that the souls of each toll corresponded in their outward appearance to the sin examined at the toll.
The great lovers of God, having been completely transformed from the nature of the old Adam into the nature of the New Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, in that new and holy state, pass through the demonic tolls of the air with their honorable souls with extraordinary speed and great glory. They are taken up to heaven by the Holy Spirit, who, even during their earthly sojourn, constantly instilled in them the desire to separate from the body and be with Christ .[ 57 ] The Great Mark of Thrace flew across the sky like lightning in the space of one hour.[ 58 ] When the time came for the death of the God-pleasing Macarius the Great, the Cherubim, being his guardian angel, accompanied by a multitude of heavenly hosts, came for his soul. With the ranks of angels, the faces of the apostles, prophets, martyrs, saints, and God-pleasing ones descended. The demons stopped in rows and crowds to watch the ascent of the Spirit-bearing soul. It began to ascend. Standing far from her, the dark souls from their toll booths shouted: "Oh, Macarius, what glory you have earned!" And the husband of a humble mind answered them: "No, and I am still afraid, because I do not know if I have done anything good." Then he quickly ascended to heaven. From other higher toll booths, the aerial villains again screamed: "Truly, you have escaped us, Makarius!" - "I have not," he replied: "and I am still suffering in flight." When he had already stepped on the heavenly gates, they, wailing with malice and envy, screamed: "Truly, you have escaped us, Makarius!" - He then answered them: "Enclosed by the power of my Christ, I avoided your traps.'' [ 59 ]
With such great freedom, the great lovers of God pass by the air guards of the dark powers, because in earthly life they enter into an irreconcilable struggle with them and, having won victory over them, in the depths of their hearts they acquire perfect freedom from sin, becoming a temple and sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who makes his intelligent family inaccessible to the fallen angel. Just as the resurrection of the Christian soul from sinful death takes place here, during life on earth: in the same way, here on earth, its torture by the air powers, its enslavement by them, or liberation from them, is carried out mysteriously; when passing through the air, this freedom and slavery are only expressed.
NOTES:
1. Matthew 18:17.
2. Saint John Climacus tells us that a certain Stephen, who lived on Sinai and loved the desert and a life of silence, spent many years in monastic asceticism, adorned with fasting and even more tears, flourished in other brilliant virtues, having reached true repentance, the day before his death, he came into ecstasy; then he began to look now to the right, now to the left side of his bed, and, tormented by invisible beings, spoke in such a way that all present could hear: "Yes, indeed, it is true! But for this I have fasted for so many years!" And then: "No, you lie, I did not do it!" Then again: "Yes, indeed, it is so! But I wept because of it, and gave myself up to the service of the brethren." And again: "No, you slander me!" And sometimes he answered: "Yes, indeed, it is so, and I do not know what to say to that. But God has mercy!''
It was a truly terrible and terrifying sight: that invisible judgment in which there is no mercy. What is even more terrible, they blamed him for what he had not done. Alas! One such loner and hermit spoke of some of his sins: ''I do not know what to say to this!'' And he spent forty years in monasticism, and he also had the gift of tears. Where was the prophecy of Ezekiel hidden then: I will judge you according to what I find in you, said God (Ezek 33; 12-20)? He could not say anything like that: therefore, glory be to the One Omniscient! And some told, referring to the Lord in the righteousness of their words, how Stephen in the desert fed a leopard from his hand. But he was separated from the body in such torments and it remained uncertain with what outcome that judgment, that torture ended (Ladder, degree 7). – Do not hand me over to the will of my enemies; for false witnesses have risen up against me; but malice speaks against itself (Ps 27:12), thus speaks the Holy Spirit through the face of the human soul, describing its invisible struggle with invisible enemies.
3. "The honorable judgment of God upon souls, after their separation from the body, begins, according to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, with torment in places called tollhouses, through which they ascend from the earth accompanied by angels, pass through the air, where evil spirits detain them and show all the sins they have committed in life." Dogmatic Theology of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church, Most Holy Anthony, ch. 341, pp. 244 and 245, 7th ed., 1857.
4. Chti-Minej, August 15th.
5. Ephesians 6:12.
6. Ephesians 6:13.
7. Tit. 2, 8. Vita beati Antonii, caput XXXVII. The God-pleasing Anthony the Great lived in the 3rd century and the beginning of the 4th. Judging by the long life of his life and his arrival at the monastery when he was twenty years old, it can be confidently concluded that he left the world in the second half of the 3rd century. The outcome of the soul of the God-pleasing Anthony in the air tolls described here at the time when he had stopped to pray confirms the opinion of St. Macarius the Great, that the souls of the most successful in the blessed feat sometimes leave the body during prayer, by the special action of the Holy Spirit.
8. Psalm 124:7, 6.
9. To Margarita, a Word on suffering and thanksgiving, and how we should not weep inconsolably for the dead. This Word is read on the seventh Sunday after Easter and at every funeral.
10. Story 16, ch. 18.
11. The Holy Great Martyrs Eustratius (commemorated on December 13) and George (commemorated on April 23) suffered during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, between 301 and 310 AD. Chti-Mineius. The prayer of Saint Eustratius was included in the collection of twelve psalms. See the Kiev-Pechersk Paterik.
12. Saint Niphon lived in the second half of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century. Chti-Minae, December 23rd.
13. God-pleasing Simeon lived in the 6th century. Chti-Minej, July 21st.
14. Prologue, December 19. Saint John the Merciful died in the second half of the 7th century, after the occupation of Alexandria by the Muslims.
15. Prologue, March 13.
16. God-pleasing Isaiah, Letter 1.
17. Letter 5, chapter 22.
18. The God-pleasing Isaiah lived in the 6th century.
19. Question 145. The Great Barsanuphius lived in the 5th and 6th centuries AD.
20. Epistle 1.
21. God-pleasing John of the Carpathians – Consoling Head 25.
22. Luke 12:47, 48.
23. The Word of Saint Hesychius, Presbyter of Jerusalem, On Sobriety, chapters 149, 161 and 4. Virtues, part 2.
24. 2. Philippians I, 9. – Chapters 60 and 75, according to the translation of Elder Paisius. The ascetic work of the God-pleasing Theognostus, published in the Christian Magazine for 1826. No. XXIII.
25. Ibid. See previous remark.
26. 2 Cor. 5:75.
27. Prologue, October 27th
28. Acts of George, a prisoner of the Zadon Monastery of the Virgin, part 1, p. 65, according to the edition from 1850.
29. Trebnik Mali, Moscow, 1838.
30. Song 4, troparion 4.
31. Song 8, troparion 2.
32. Song 8, troparion 3.
33. After the 4th kathisma.
34. After the 47th kathisma.
35. Akathists with canons, edition of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
36. 4th troparion, 8th song of the canon in the akathist to the Mother of God.
37. Friday, voice 4, canon song 8.
38. Thursday, voice 4, song 6.
39. Tuesday, voice 4, song 8.
40. Friday, voice 3, song 6.
41. Saturday, voice 2, song 9.
42. Trebnik, Moscow, 1852. Song 1, troparion 2 and 3.
43. Trebnik, Moscow, 1852. Song 1, tropar 2 and 3.
44. Song 7, troparion 2.
45. Canon, Song 6.
46. Song 9.
47. Song 9.
48. Akathists and canons, ed. Kiev - Pechersk Lavra.
49. The Caves Patericon.
50. Orthodox – Dogmatic Theology of the Most Holy Makarios, volume 5, p. 85, edition 1853. ''The constant, everyday and universal teaching on tolls accepted in the Church, and especially among the Teachers of the fourth century, undeniably testifies that it was handed down to them by the Teachers of previous centuries and is based on apostolic tradition.'' Ibid., p. 86.
51. Matthew 12:36-37.
52. Eph. 4:29 and 5:4.
53. Luke 6:25.
54. Tobit. XXI, 9, 10.
55. Saint John Climacus or Staircase tells how, during his stay in a monastery near Alexandria, a robber came to that monastery for repentance and monastic tonsure. The Great Father, the abbot of the monastery, commanded him to confess his sins before all the gathered brethren in the church. When the robber did so with burning zeal and self-denial, the Great immediately clothed him in the shim. Saint John asked the holy abbot privately: why did he tonsure the robber so quickly? The abbot gave the reason as the fact that the robber had earned complete forgiveness of sins by confession. “And do not disbelieve it,” added the Great, “for one of the brothers present there convinced me, saying: “I saw a terrible man holding a written paper and a pen; and as soon as the penitent uttered any sin, he would immediately cross it out with a pen, and it is just, for the Scripture says: I said: I will confess my transgressions to the Lord; and you took away the guilt of my sin from me'' (Ps 32, 5). Ladder, letter 4.
It will not be superfluous to mention here an event, so to speak, from our days. In the vicinity of Vologda there is a large village, Kubenskoe, which has several parishes. One of the parish priests fell ill there, and approaching the end, he saw his coffin surrounded by demons who were preparing to seize his soul and bring it down to hell. Then three angels appeared. One of them stood by the coffin and began to argue about the soul with a terrible demon who held an open book in which all the priest's sins were written. Then another priest came up to instruct his fellow. The confession began; The sick man, casting fearful glances at the book, with self-denial listed his sins, as if he wanted to expel them from himself, - and what did he see? He clearly saw that, as soon as he uttered a sin, it would disappear from the book, in which blanks remained instead of records. Having confessed in this way, he erased all his sins from the demonic book and, having received healing, spent the rest of his life in deep repentance, telling his loved ones, for their instruction, of the vision, crowned with a miraculous healing.
56. Gen. 8:21.
57. Philippians 1:23.
58. Chti-Minej on April 5. "Looking," says the God-pleasing Serapion, who was present at the death of the God-pleasing Mark, "I saw the soul of the Saint already freed from bodily bonds, carried in the arms of angels, covered with a shining white garment, and carried up to heaven."
59. Scythian Paterik. ''The ascension of the Great Macarius from earth to heaven was seen by his disciples, who were on a high spiritual ladder, and this ascension was narrated by the God-pleasing Paphnutius, who after the Great became the abbot of the Scythians''.
From the book THE WORD OF DEATH - St. Ignatius of Brianza
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