The Soul After Death

Those who here say that Fr Seraphim's book is controversial or questionable or speculative are apparently unaware of the true teaching of the Orthodox Church: a key problem addressed in the book's first chapter. There is no Church Father, saint, elder or otherwise enlightened, Orthodox commentator that has ever written even one word against the doctrine of the aerial tollhouses. Indeed, even Fathers that predate the vision of Blessed Theodora (e.g., St John Chysostom, St Isaac the Syrian, St John Climacus, St Antony, St Macarios the Great...) as well as many coming after (St Nicodemus, Blessed Theophylact, St Theophan the Recluse...) mention the tollhouses explicitly in their writings. Moreover, supplications for protection from the Mother of God and one's Guardian Angel during the aerial tollhouse trials are included in most of the Church services and in the prayer books in preparation for Communion (all of which predate the vision as well).The only objection to the doctrine has arisen in the West (particularly in the US and Canada) among a handful of converts. One can only suspect that, apart from poor catechism, these individuals evidently spent more time reading gnostic gospels and other theological diversions (which have now confused them) than the writings of the Church Fathers, the prayers and attending the Divine services. Unfortunately, this seems to the exact type of delusion--of veering to the left or to the right of the Church teaching--that Fr Seraphim warns against in the book.What is true is that Fr Seraphim's book cuts to the heart of true Orthodox living. A true Orthodox lives his/her life in anticipation of struggling against the world, the flesh and the devil, in the hopes of obtaining reunion with God through Jesus Christ. This struggle is really "practice" for a final struggle undertaken upon death, when the demons raise every temptation against the soul and make one last attempt to ensnare it. This is so fundamental and so unique to Orthodoxy that to not believe it is to be in danger of not actually being Orthodox. Otherwise, what does the Orthodox person struggle against? Why does he fast? Why does she pray? Why does he labor? Why does she follow the commandments? If it is not so that, in the balance, he/she is judged worthy of entrance into Heaven and reuniting with God, what is its purpose? Fr Seraphim clarifies all of this or, at least, puts it into perspective.Admittedly, the contents of this book comprise a difficult pill to swallow for many--as another reviewer points out. Particularly in the West (where this English version of the book is geared) we are accustomed to living in a false reality: where we only believe in what we can see (not bothering even to test its substance), we relegate the unseen to movies and fiction and we optimistically feel every "good" person will go to a "good" place after he/she dies. The idea that life is about struggle and not about living it to the fullest, that there is, in fact, one True Path and One True God (and not many, plausible, alternatives) and that many people will perish despite how "good" they are in a worldly sense, is completely at odds with what Fr Seraphim teaches in this book. However, these ideas are also, and by the same token, completely at odds with what the Orthodox Church teaches. Therefore, talk of demons in the air challenging the soul, delusion, astral traveling and such will seem odd and perhaps even crazy for most people. However, "most people" are not Fr Seraphim's intended audience.The reader of this book is the one who questions, wonders, asks and awaits an answer about why he/she is here and what will happen when he/she dies. That person is not most people. Moreover, whether the reader is Orthodox, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish or Muslim by tradition, the book addresses this issue, showing how the popular (mis)conceptions of the soul's fate after death are refuted fully and successfully by the Orthodox teaching. If confused Orthodox, heterodox and non-Christian readers take offense to this or feel that their religion, philosophy, personal belief, etc. are not represented but nonetheless can provide a better refutation or reconciliation, then they are welcome to write their own books. However, in any case, Fr Seraphim's book is definitely and whole-heartedly Orthodox and it's importance is unmeasurable; it places the ancient teaching into today's context without compromising the Orthodox nature of that teaching--dispelling myths and injecting sobriety. Glory be to God for that!

The Soul After Death complements Fr. Seraphim's other famous book, Orthodoxy And The Religion Of The Future. Both books compile and engage with various then-contemporary "spiritual" phenomena, contrasting them with a traditional Orthodox viewpoint. Here, the focus is specifically on "near-death" and "out-of-body" experiences -- visions that people have when they are close to dying. These visions have many common characteristics and have been extensively documented by various psychiatrists and people claiming to be psychiatrists (as we'll see below, the distinction between the two is not always clear). They are also exploited by spiritists and charlatans of different kinds.If you have never heard of any of these books or people, you may find the whole thing bewildering. You may wonder what the point was of bringing up these marginal authors, who may have been briefly popular during the woo-woo fads of the seventies, but who have long been forgotten.But have they? You might not be so unfamiliar with them after all. For example, I'm sure you've heard of the "five stages of grief" -- denial, bargaining, anger, depression, and acceptance. I even learned about them in high school. Of course the textbook didn't say who came up with this classification.But the "five stages" model does have an author -- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, a recurring name throughout The Soul After Death. Kubler-Ross was a psychiatrist with a medical degree who taught at the University of Chicago. She proposed the five stages as a therapeutic scheme for helping dying people and their families come to terms with the inevitable. She interviewed many such people and was driven by a sincere desire to help them.What you won't find in your high school textbook is that, during this process, Kubler-Ross developed an interest in "near-death" experiences and visions, which are catalogued in painstaking detail, in the same book where her famous model was first laid out. One thing led to another (it always does with these people): a few years later, Kubler-Ross had delved into mediumism, spiritism, etc. and had convinced herself of her own ability to channel and speak to the spirits of the dead. The direct quotes from her on pp. 164-166 are more than sufficient for a diagnosis.You might argue that it doesn't matter -- we can appreciate Kubler-Ross's contributions to therapy independently of her own personal problems. I'm not so sure, but in any case, shouldn't we at least acknowledge both sides? The psychiatric concept introduced by Kubler-Ross is now so pervasive in the cultural mainstream that basically nobody knows who invented it -- and then, suddenly, we find that its inventor wasn't speaking purely from practical experience and observation, but was also influenced by peculiar spiritual ideas, and was, at the very least, deeply disturbed.This is Fr. Seraphim's point, made even more convincing by the fact that he never mentions the five stages, because The Soul After Death was written in 1974, before that model had become so famous. We live in a world that has already been "reformatted" by faux-Eastern mysticism (real Eastern mysticism looks nothing like this). Our culture may still pay lip service to Christianity (less and less, as it turns out), but the actual ideas that it presents to us were created within a completely different religious framework. And it is a _religious_ framework, even if it calls itself secular.For this philosophical provocativeness, The Soul After Death will always be invaluable. Nonetheless, it also has a somewhat controversial reputation in Orthodox circles. Fr. Seraphim presented the Orthodox Christian teaching on the afterlife as a contrast to the one that emerges from Kubler-Ross and the others, and a substantial part of his exposition is devoted to "the toll-houses." This teaching, which was espoused by many traditional Orthodox thinkers, holds that, after death, souls pass through a sequence of "stations" (not meant literally) in which their affinity to different types of sin is revealed.I don't claim to have a perfect understanding of dogmatic nuance, but it seems to me that much of the controversy came from wording. The English word "toll-house" is a big part of the problem: it evokes an overly literal image, and suggests that you have to "pay a toll" in order to pass, which is problematic. But, while "toll-house" is the literal translation of the Russian word "mytarstvo," that literal meaning is archaic, and now the word is more commonly translated as "ordeal." For example, Dostoevsky uses this word, in the precise Orthodox sense, in three chapter titles of The Brothers Karamazov, and English translators typically write it as "ordeal." The word "ordeal" more easily lends itself to the interpretation that the soul is being confronted with things it did during life, rather than having to pass extra tests; it is just a ritualized depiction of the Particular Judgment concept.Arguments to authority are not all-powerful in Orthodoxy, so even if a saint provably wrote something, you're not obligated to accept it as absolute literal fact. But rejecting it out of hand also seems wrong; Fr. Seraphim shows (and it is not hard to verify this on your own) that the teaching, regardless of whether or not you use the word "toll-house," has a long history at least within the Russian tradition. Even the story of St. Theodora visiting the toll-houses, which is sometimes criticized, is also cited in the standard prayer-book published by ROCOR (pp. 408-409). For those within ROC(OR), it would seem that the teaching should at least be respectfully acknowledged, if not blindly followed.But, even if every reference to the toll-houses were removed from the book, little would change. Fr. Seraphim is loved by Orthodox Christians, not for his defense of the toll-houses, or for his critique of Kubler-Ross et al., but for his love for God, and for his efforts to clear away any and all "spiritual" deceptions and distractions from actual spiritual life. As long as someone shares these values, this book has a grateful audience.

Every Book that Father Seraphim Rose wrote I have to have. No Orthodox Christian should be without it. Hope I live to see Him Canonized. Fast Shipping.

A well researched comparison of near death experiences and the journey of the soul after death from the Orthodox point of view to the increasingly secular and scientific way of thinking. A real eye opener and a motivator for increasing our standards of human behavior and faith before our own time comes.

"The Soul After Death" is not in for an easy ride unless you have lead a Saintly life. There is nothing in this book to mollycoddle or placate those who are seeking a good afterlife without doing anything to receive such a reward.

O livro aborda um assunto poucos falado na literatura cristã, a vida após a morte. O fato de fornecer as fontes primárias de onde os escritos foram extraídos nos faz ter mais interesse no assunto

I am only halfway through reading this book. It's so informative and draws from various sources. A good comprehensive read on the subject. Pleased with this purchase.

This book is hard to read, but how can one live life successfully without facing the harsh reality? There are some who criticize alleged "gnostic" teachings of Fr. Seraphim - a ridiculous accusation. The toll houses are very obviously a part of authentic Orthodox tradition, the evidence is abundant with none against it. This sort of criticism stems from a Protestant approach at Orthodoxy: One tries to re-construct the original Orthodoxy of the Early Church, which allegedly has been lost.