Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord!

Last week we mentioned that death is the separation of the soul from the body, and that it is very difficult for people to accept death or even come to terms with the idea that one day we will die. The reason for this is that it is unnatural for us to die. We were created not for suffering and death, but for an eternal and blessed life. Today, let’s begin to discuss what transpires with a person when he dies.

This subject is, of course, difficult and mysterious, because more often than not a person does not return to a normal earthly life after death. There are very few such people and therefore, we don’t have many accounts about life after death. Despite this, we can know some things with certainty, while about other things there is a rich and practically universally accepted Church Tradition.

We can say with certainty that after death, the human body becomes lifeless and with time, in most instances, decomposes. Sometimes the bodies of holy people do not decompose, but instead are preserved as incorrupt relics. The most striking examples of this are the earthly remains of the Holy Hierarchs Joasaph of Belgorod and John of San Francisco. We also need to remember that the dead bodies of the saints, although they don’t have any life in them, sometimes work miracles. This is all relatively easy for a person to see for himself. One need only fly to San Francisco, look at the relics of St. John, and to read about his miracles.

While after death the body decomposes and practically disappears with time, the other parts of a person, his soul and spirit, continue to exist because they are eternal. They don’t change, grow old, or become ill. Despite this, we can’t say that a soul after death is living a full-fledged life. Perhaps the main thing that we have to remember is that after death the soul can find rest, that is a peaceful and even blessed existence, or it can find itself in suffering. The state of the soul after death is, of course, dependent on the way we lived our lives here on earth.

All of this is clear from Holy Scripture and especially from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31). We didn’t read this parable today, but it seems to me that you know it well. Let’s remember that after his death the angels carried Lazarus’ soul to the bosom of Abraham. Here we have an indication of the soul being eternal (it is completely clear that although Lazarus died, his soul continues to live). The fact that angels carried his soul to Abraham, as well well as the words of Abraham that souls cannot pass from one place to another, indicate that the human soul after death cannot freely act on its own, like it did when it was still joined to a body before death. It sees, hears, understands completely what is transpiring, is either joyful and peaceful, or is suffering and in fear, but cannot do much. As is the case with the bodies of the saints through which miracles are sometimes performed, the souls of the departed righteous are also not as helpless as the souls of sinners. The rich man, having lived a sinful life, could do nothing to ease his sufferings, while the righteous can even help us sinful people. Our own personal experience with prayer clearly indicates this.

In today’s Gospel reading, we heard the parable of the sower as well as our Lord Jesus Christ’s explanation of this story. Let’s try to work the soil of our souls so that when we hear or read Holy Scripture, these divine words fall deep into our hearts and bring forth a rich spiritual harvest. If we do this, hope will appear within us that after our death, our souls will be carried by the angels into the Kingdom of Heaven and we will rejoice with the righteous forever.

priest Alexis