My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE. Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΜΕΣΩ ΗΜΩΝ! ΚΑΙ ΗΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΑΙ.
THE INTERMEDIATE STATE OF SOULS ACCORDING TO THE HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH
The Soul Exists and Acts Without Body
Our external, biological and earthly life ends with death but the soul continues to live on. The Psalmist in time of grief and despair asked the following question: "What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?" (Psalm 89:48). To this desperate question the answer is given in Psalm 59 which examines the conditions of the present and of the future life of the impious. In this beautiful Psalm, which foreshadows the vivid Parable of the Lord regarding poor Lazarus and the rich man, the Psalmist writes: "But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me" (Psalm 49:15). Moreover, from the God-inspired book of Genesis we are informed that "Abraham (...) died (...) and was gathered to his people" (Genesis 25:8), that is, he was added to his pious and God-loving ancestors. Also, the son of the Patriarch Ishmael "died and was gathered to his kindred" (Genesis 25:17). This means that the ancestors of Abraham and of Ishmael continued to live even after death.
But, from here many questions arise: Where and how the souls live until the Second Coming of Christ? Since the soul is now separated from the bonds of the body and is without its partner, how does it feel in that inexpressible world? Do the souls maintain an awareness of their identity? Do they remember whatever they experienced during their earthly life? Do they remember their relatives and friends who still live on earth? If so, what relationship do they maintain with them?
To these reasonable questions we shall seek to give answers--as we have done hitherto--on the basis of the Sacred Scripture and the interpretation of the related passages by the God-bearing Fathers of the Church. For we must not for a moment stray away from the spirit of the Holy Fathers, whose theology is the word of the Church. God forbid, if on such an important subject we take refuge in the modern arena of worldly philosophies and in the gnosiological confusions of men.
First of all, we must emphasize that nothing can obstruct the soul from living and understanding simply because it is separated from the body. For the soul is our very existence, the center of all our energies and our thoughts. The soul moves and gives life to the body. After the separation from the body it continues to live, to exist, to have awareness, "it would be a true fortune and singular benefit for the sinners". The Apologist for the early Christians, Justin the Martyr, writes most appropriately: "If one who dies proceeds to a condition of anaesthesia, he would be a play thing to all the unrighteous;" (JUSTIN, Apology A). For, if the soul would have no substance at all, since its ego would be altogether extinguished, it would also be freed from the necessity of punishment which would be required for its sins.
The soul, therefore, continues to have its own substance and existence after its separation from the body. The Lord Himself confirmed this when He said to His Disciples: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (St. Matthew 10:28). This Dominical word confirms beyond any doubt that men can kill the body but not the soul, which continues to live separately from the body. Also, the Lord said to the repentant thief at His right: "...Today you will be with Me in Paradise" (St. Luke 23:43). This Dominical word, too, leaves no room for doubt. The "today", which the Lord so emphatically projects, indicates that the end of the earthly life is the immediate beginning of heavenly life. This truth is also verified by Saint Paul's deep yearning to depart from this world in order to live near Christ, Whom he loved so dearly. "We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body by the desire to live and to die, so that he could not make up his mind which of the two he should prefer--life or death? His desire to die prevailed because this would bring Saint Paul sooner to the other, the true life, where he would be with his beloved Jesus (cf., Phil. 1:22-23). If the souls did not continue to live, but were immersed in a deep sleep, as some people so foolishly say, how could Saint Paul have such a desire to depart from this world? "For he would never have desired to be in such a state of lethargy if he had known this".
Again from the miracle of the resurrection of the son of the widow of Zarephath by the Prophet Elijah we are informed that after the prayer of the Prophet "the soul of the child returned" and the child revived (I Kings 17:21-22). This means that the soul lived separately from the dead body. Similar events took place at the miracle of the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus. At the command of the Lord, "Child, arise (...) her spirit returned, and she got up at once" (St. Luke 8:54-55). But the return of the soul to the body of the deceased child presupposes the separation of the soul from the body. This proves that the soul is self-existing; it exists and is active even when it abandons its partner, the body. It proves that the soul is an "essence" that can "be recalled by the Lord, Who rules over the body". We hear the same thing from the mouth of Saint Paul when he resurrected the dead Eutychus. The Apostle said to the Christians of Troas: "Be not troubled and do not weep; his soul has returned to his dead body and is now within him, giving resurrection to Eutychus" (Acts 20: 9-10).
Of course, we cannot describe exactly how the soul lives without the body. For the God-inspired Saint Paul himself who "was caught up to the Third Heaven", wrote "I know a man in Christ (...) whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows" (2 Corinthians 12:2-3). The Apostle knows that he was caught up in the spiritual world, but how he was caught up and in what relationship his soul was to his body, he does not know. In any case, it is a fact that the whole inner spiritual world of man is alert and active, even when the body is partly or wholly inactive. Saint Anthony the Great once said to the ascetic Didymos of Alexandria (313-398 AD) who was blind from the age of four and who had written many books: "Nothing should cause you to worry, Didymos, because you have lost the sight of your eyes; for you are merely missing those eyes with which even the flies and the mosquitoes see. Rejoice, for you have strong spiritual eyes such as the Angels have to see. You have eyes through which God Himself and His Light is received."
After all, why should we exclude a different type of life other than the one we live here on earth? Since the center of our personality is our immortal soul, who can deny that it lives another more spiritual life, without the body? It goes there when it is liberated from the material element with which it co-exists in the present life. (Source: The Mystery of Death by Nikolaos P. Vassiliadis)
(Next: Where Do the Souls Live After Death?)
Please note: Recently some of our parishioners have been asking about life after death and questions about the soul. It is good that some of you are concerned about your souls and the salvation of your souls. I will make every effort to present you with the Orthodox Christian view on death, the immortal soul, the intermediate state of souls, where the souls live after death, how do the souls live there, and if the those who fallen asleep are aware of us and pray for us, etc.
Death can come to all of us when we least expect it and therefore we must always be prepared spiritually. Those of us who are seniors should be preoccupied even more with this spiritual preparation of our souls than the younger men and women of our church, knowing, that our earthly life is approaching the end. That all of us without exception will be judged by our Almighty God and Creator of how we have used or misused the gift of life that He gave us. No one can escape Divine Justice! All of us are accountable to our Lord for our thoughts, feelings and actions during our earthly life. One very important point to think about is the following, "It is not the sins that condemn a person (a Christian believer) but the unwillingness to repent of them." If there is no repentance, there is no salvation. There is no repentance after death.
_________________________
"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostom
+++
With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George