The Soul After Death: Contemporary “After-Death” Experiences in the Light of the Orthodox Teaching on the Afterlife
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
Item Number: BKP231 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
