The Soul After Death: Contemporary “After-Death” Experiences in the Light of the Orthodox Teaching on the Afterlife

Publication Data: Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2004
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: xviii + 300
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.0 cm × 13.4 cm × 1.6 cm
ISBN: 938635‒14‒X

   
Fourth Edition

by Fr. Seraphim Rose

“The aim of the present book is two-fold: first, to give an explanation, in terms of the Orthodox Christian doctrine of life after death, of the present-day ‘after-death’ experiences that have caused such interest in some religious and scientific circles; and second, to present the basic sources and texts which contain the Orthodox teaching on life after death. If the Orthodox teaching is so little understood today, it is largely because these texts have been so neglected and have become so ‘unfashionable’ in our ‘enlightened’ times; and our attempt has been to make these texts more understandable and accessible to present-day readers.”
—“Preface”

CONTENTS

   Preface
Chapter One: Some Aspects of Today’s Experiences
   1. The “Out-of-Body” Experiences
   2. The Meeting with Others
   3. The “Being of Light”
Chapter Two: The Orthodox Doctrine of the Angels
Chapter Three: Appearances of Angels and Demons at the Hour of Death
Chapter Four: The Contemporary Experience of “Heaven”
Chapter Five: The Aerial Realm of Spirits
   1. Man’s Original Nature
   2. The Fall of Man
   3. Contact with Fallen Spirits
   4. The Opening of the Senses
   5. The Danger of Contact with Spirits
   6. Some Practical Advice
   Conclusion
Chapter Six: The Aerial Toll-Houses
   1. How to Understand the Toll-Houses
   2. Patristic Testimony of the Toll-Houses
   3. The Toll-Houses in Lives of Saints
   4. A Modern Experience of the Toll-Houses
   5. The Toll-Houses Experienced before Death
   6. The Particular Judgment
   7. The Toll-Houses: A Touchstone of Authentic After-Death Experience
   8. The Teaching of Bishop Theophan the Recluse on the Aerial Toll-Houses
Chapter Seven: “Out-of-Body” Experiences in Occult Literature
   1. The Tibetan Book of the Dead
   2. The Writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg
   3. The “Astral Plane” of Theosophy
   4. “Astral Projection”
   5. “Astral Travelling”
   6. Conclusion about the “Out-of-Body” Realm
   A Note on Reincarnation
Chapter Eight: True Christian Experiences of Heaven
   1. The “Location” of Heaven and Hell
   2. Christian Experiences of Heaven
   3. Characteristics of the True Experience of Heaven
   A Note on Visions of Hell
Chapter Nine: The Meaning of Today’s “After-Death” Experiences
   1. What Do Today’s Experiences “Prove”?
   2. The Connection with Occultism
   3. The Occult Teaching of Today’s Investigators
   4. The “Message” of Today’s “After-Death” Experiences
   5. The Christian Attitude Towards Death
Chapter Ten: Summary of the Orthodox Teaching on the Fate of the Soul After Death
   Life after Death by Archbishop John Maximovitch
      The Beginning of Spiritual Vision
      Encounters with Spirits
      The First Two Days after Death
      The Toll-Houses
      The Forty Days
      The State of Souls Until the Last Judgment
      Prayers for the Dead
      What We Can Do for the Dead
      The Resurrection of the Body
Appendix I: The Orthodox Teaching of Saint Mark of Ephesus on the State of Souls after Death
   First Homily: Refutation of the Latin Chapters Concerning Purgatorial Fire
   From the Second Homily against Purgatorial Fire
Appendix II: Some Recent Orthodox Responses to the Current Discussion on Life after Death
   1. The Mystery of Death and the Beyond
      by Father Ambroise Fontrier
   2. The Great Wager Between Believers and Unbelievers
      by Photios Kontoglou
   3. A Return from the Dead in Contemporary Greece
      by Archimandrite Cyprian
   4. The “Dead” Appear in Contemporary Moscow
      by Priest Dimitry Dudko
Appendix III: Answer to a Critic
   1. The “Contradictions” of Orthodox Literature on the Soul after Death
   2. Is there such a thing as an “out-of-body” experience or an “other world” which souls inhabit?
   3. Does the soul “sleep” after death?
   4. Are the toll-houses “imaginary”?
   Conclusion
Appendix to the Second Edition
About the Author
Bibliography
Index