"The ordeal of St. Theodora. Ordeals of Blessed Theodora

Once, - writes Gregory, - having come to my spiritual father Vasily, I learned that his servant, Theodora, having taken the monastic rank, peacefully departed to the Lord. All who knew her were saddened by her death, she did so much good in her life. I was just as upset as the others. But I didn’t so much mourn the loss of her, but that I didn’t know what fate she was awarded after her death and whether she was numbered among the holy righteous or not.

Being tormented by such internal questions, at first I did not say anything to St. Basil, but then, knowing that the monk, in his perspicacity, already knew my secret thoughts and desires, he turned to him with a convincing request to tell me what fate she was honored with after her death. her Theodora, who spent the last days of her life quite piously. Saint Basil, attentively, as usual, listening to my request, promised to pray to the merciful Lord to bestow this mercy on me. The Lord heard the prayer of the saint. When I was leaving home, the reverend asked me again: "So you really want this?" To which I replied that I would very, very much like to. The monk said: "You will see her today if you ask for it in faith and if you are deeply confident in the possibility of fulfilling your request." I was greatly surprised and reasoned with myself: "How and where will I see the one who has departed into eternal life?"

That same night, I fell asleep on my bed and now I see a handsome and attractive young man who, coming up to me, said: “Get up, the Reverend Father Basil is calling you, so that you can go together to visit Theodora; if you want to see her, then go with you will see him."

I tried to get up quickly; he immediately went to the reverend and, not finding him at his place, asked about him from all those present there. I was told that St. Basil himself had gone to visit Theodora. It pained me to hear this, and I exclaimed with sadness: “How could he not have waited for me so that I could fulfill my cherished desire and be consoled when I saw my spiritual mother! ..”

And then one of those present showed me the path along which Saint Basil set out and along which I had to go. I followed the saint, and suddenly on this path I found myself, as it were, in an unknown labyrinth: the narrow road, leading to no one knows where, was so inconvenient that it was hardly possible to walk along it with fear ... I found myself in front of a gate that was firmly locked; approaching them, I looked through the hole, wishing to see someone inside the courtyard, to ask about the saint, if only he had come here. Indeed, fortunately for me, I saw a woman there, sitting and talking with her friends; calling out to her, I asked, "Mistress, whose yard is this?" She replied that it belonged to our father Vasily, who had recently come here to visit his spiritual children. Hearing this, I rejoiced and dared to ask her to open the gate for me so that I could enter, since I am also the spiritual child of Father Vasily. But without the permission of Theodora, the maid did not open the door for me. I began to knock hard on the door, asking to open it. Theodora heard, she herself came to the gate and, seeing me, she immediately recognized me and hurried to open them, saying at the same time: “Here he is, the beloved son of my master Basil!” She led me into the yard, rejoicing at my arrival and greeting me with a holy kiss, saying: "Brother Gregory! Who instructed you to come here?" I told her in detail how, through the prayer of St. Basil, I achieved the happiness of seeing her in the glory that she had acquired thanks to her ascetic life. For the sake of spiritual benefit, I convincingly asked the reverend to tell me everything: how she parted with her body, how she passed by slanderers, how she came to this holy monastery, how she lives here? .. Theodora answered me:

Child Gregory, you asked about a terrible deed, it is terrible to remember it. I saw faces I had never seen and heard words I had never heard. What can I tell you? Terrible and terrible I had to see and hear for my deeds, but with the help and prayers of our father, the Monk Basil, everything was easy for me.

How can I convey to you, child, that bodily torment, that fear and confusion that the dying have to experience! Just as fire burns what is thrown into it and turns it into ashes, so the torment of death at the last hour destroys a person. Truly terrible is the death of sinners like me!

So, when the hour came for the separation of my soul from the body, I saw around my bed a lot of Ethiopians, black as soot or pitch, with eyes burning like coals. They raised a noise and shout: some roared like cattle and beasts, others barked like dogs, others howled like wolves, and others grunted like pigs. All of them, looking at me, raged, threatened, gnashed their teeth, as if they wanted to eat me; they prepared charters in which all my bad deeds were recorded. Then my poor soul trembled; it was as if the torment of death did not exist for me: the terrible vision of the terrible Ethiopians was for me another, more terrible death. I turned away my eyes so as not to see their terrible faces, but they were everywhere and their voices were carried from everywhere. When I was completely exhausted, I saw two Angels of God approaching me in the form of beautiful youths; their faces were bright, their eyes looked with love, the hair on their heads was white as snow and shone like gold; the clothes were like the light of lightning, and on the chest they were cross-girded with golden belts. Approaching my bed, they stood beside me on the right side, talking quietly to each other.

When I saw them, I rejoiced; the black Ethiopians trembled and moved away; one of the bright young men addressed them with the following words: “O shameless, accursed, gloomy and evil enemies of the human race! rejoice very much, here you will not find anything, for God is merciful to her and you have no part and share in this soul. After listening to this, the Ethiopians rushed about, raising a strong cry and saying: “How can we not have a part in this soul? and this?" And having said this, they stood and waited for my death. Finally, death itself came, roaring like a lion and very terrible in appearance; she looked like a man, only she had no body and was made up of bare human bones only. With her were various tools for torment: swords, spears, arrows, scythes, saws, axes and other tools unknown to me.

My poor soul trembled when it saw this. The holy angels said to death: "What are you delaying, free this soul from the body, free it quietly and soon, because there are not many sins behind it." In obedience to this order, death approached me, took a small cord and first of all cut off my legs, then my arms, then gradually cut off my other members with other tools, separating composition from composition, and my whole body became dead. Then, taking an adze, she cut off my head, and it became as if a stranger to me, for I could not turn it around. After that, death made some kind of drink in the cup and, bringing it to my lips, forced me to drink. This drink was so bitter that my soul could not endure it - it shuddered and jumped out of the body, as if forcibly torn out of it. Then the bright Angels took her into their arms. I turned back and saw my body lying soulless, insensible and motionless, just as if someone takes off his clothes and, throwing them away, looks at her - so I looked at my body, from which I had freed myself, and was very surprised at this. The demons, who were in the form of Ethiopians, surrounded the holy angels holding me and shouted, showing my sins: "This soul has many sins, let it give us an answer for them!"

But the holy angels began to look for my good deeds and, by the grace of God, they found and collected everything that with the help of the Lord was good done by me: whether I ever gave alms, or fed the hungry, or gave the thirsty to drink, or clothed the naked, or led the stranger into her house and calmed him, or served the saints, or visited the sick and those in prison and helped him, or when she went to church with zeal and prayed with tenderness and tears, or when she listened with attention to church reading and singing, or brought incense to church and candles, or made some other kind of offering, or poured wooden oil into the lamps in front of the holy icons and kissed them with reverence, or when fasting and during all holy fasts on Wednesday and Friday did not eat food, or how many bows did she make and prayed at night, or when she turned to God with all her soul and wept over her sins, or when, with full heartfelt repentance, she confessed her sins to God before her spiritual father and tried to to make amends with good deeds, or when she did some good for her neighbor, or when she was not angry with someone who was at war with me, or when she suffered some insult and scolding and did not remember them and was not angry for them, or when she repaid good for evil, or when she humbled herself or lamented about someone else's misfortune, or she herself was sick and meekly endured, or took ill with other patients, and consoled the crying, or gave someone a helping hand, or helped in a good deed, or kept someone from a bad one, or when she did not pay attention to vain deeds, or kept from vain swearing or slander and idle talk, and all my other smallest deeds were collected by holy angels, preparing to lay against my sins. The Ethiopians, seeing this, gnashed their teeth, because they wanted to kidnap me from the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell.

At this time, our reverend father Basil unexpectedly appeared there and said to the holy angels: “My Lord, this soul served me a lot, calming my old age, and I prayed to God, and He gave it to me.” Having said this, he took out a golden bag from his bosom, all full, as I thought, of pure gold, and gave it to the holy angels, saying: “When you go through air ordeals and evil spirits begin torturing this soul, redeem her with this from her debts. I am rich by the grace of God, because I have collected many treasures for myself by my labors, and I give this bag to the soul that served me. Having said this, he disappeared. The crafty demons, seeing this, were perplexed and, raising lamentable cries, also disappeared. Then the saint of God, Basil, came again and brought many vessels with pure oil, dear ointment, and, opening each vessel one by one, poured everything on me, and a fragrance spilled from me. Then I realized that I had changed and became especially bright. The saint again turned to the angels with the following words: "My Lord! When you have done everything necessary for her, then, having brought her to the monastery prepared for me from the Lord, leave her there." Having said this, he departed.

Ordeal 1

The holy angels took me from the earth, went up to heaven, ascending, as it were, through the air. And so, on the way, we suddenly met the first ordeal, which is called the ordeal of idle talk and foul language. Here we stopped. We were brought out a multitude of scrolls, in which were written down all the words that I had only spoken from my youth, all that I had said thoughtlessly and, moreover, shameful. All the blasphemous deeds of my youth were written down, as well as the idle laughter to which youth is so prone. I immediately saw the bad words that I had ever spoken, shameless worldly songs, and the spirits denounced me, pointing out both the place and the time and the persons with whom I engaged in idle conversations and angered God with my words, and did not consider him a sin at all. and therefore did not confess this to the spiritual father. Looking at these scrolls, I was silent as if deprived of the gift of speech, because I had nothing to answer them: everything that was written down by them was true. And I was surprised how they didn’t forget anything, because so many years have passed and I myself have long forgotten about it. They tested me in detail and in the most skillful way, and little by little I remembered everything. But the holy angels who led me put an end to my trial at the first ordeal: they covered my sins, pointing out to the evil ones some of my former good deeds, and what was missing from them to cover my sins, added from the virtues of my father, the Monk Basil, and redeemed me from the first ordeal, and we went further.

Ordeal 2

Rising higher to heaven, we have reached the second ordeal, the ordeal of Lies. for everything like that, when a person resorts to lies. The spirits in this ordeal are fierce and cruel, and they test those who go through this ordeal especially hard. When they stopped us, they began to ask me all the details, and I was convicted of having lied twice about the smallest things, so that I did not put it in my sin, and also that once from - for shame, she did not tell the whole truth in confession to her spiritual father. Having caught me in a lie, the spirits came to great joy and already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the angels, but they, to cover the sins found, pointed to my good deeds, and replenished the missing with the good deeds of my father, the Monk Basil, and thus redeemed me from this ordeal, and we went up unhindered.

Ordeal 3

We have also reached the third ordeal, the ordeal of Condemnation and Slander. Here, when we were stopped, I saw how seriously the one who condemns his neighbor sins, and how much evil it is when one slanders another, dishonors him, scolds him, when he curses and laughs at other people's sins, not paying attention to his own. Terrible spirits test sinners in this because they anticipate the order of Christ and become judges and destroyers of their neighbors, when they themselves are immeasurably more worthy of condemnation. In this ordeal, by the grace of God, I did not turn out to be sinful in many ways, because all my life I was careful not to condemn anyone, not to slander anyone, did not mock anyone, did not scold anyone; sometimes only, listening to how others condemned their neighbors, slandered them or laughed at them, in my thoughts I partly agreed with them and, through negligence, added a little of myself to their speeches, but, having come to my senses, I immediately restrained myself. But even this, the spirits that tested me, put me in sin, and only through the merits of the Monk Basil did the holy angels free me from this ordeal, and we went higher.

Ordeal 4

Continuing the path, we reached the fourth ordeal, the ordeal of Overeating and Drunkenness. Bad spirits ran out to meet us, rejoicing that a new victim was coming towards them. The appearance of these spirits was ugly: they depicted various types of voluptuous gluttons and vile drunkards; they carried dishes and bowls with dishes and various drinks. Food and drink also looked vile, like stinking pus and vomit. The spirits of this ordeal seemed sated and drunk, they jumped with music in their hands and did everything that feasters usually do, and cursed the souls of sinners, who were led by them to the ordeal. These spirits, like dogs, surrounded us, stopped and began to show all my sins of this kind: whether I ever ate secretly or through force and beyond the need, or in the morning, like a pig, without prayer and the sign of the cross, or ate during holy fasts before the time appointed by the church charter, or because of intemperance, she ate before dinner, or during dinner she was oversatiated. They also calculated my drunkenness, showing the cups and vessels from which I got drunk, and they directly said: you drank so many cups at such and such a time, and at such and such a feast, with such and such people; and in another place she drank so much and went into unconsciousness and vomiting, and so many times she feasted and danced to the music, clapping her hands, sang songs and jumped, and when they brought you home, she was exhausted from immeasurable drunkenness; the evil spirits also showed me those cups from which I sometimes drank in the morning and on fasting days for the sake of guests, or when, due to weakness, I drank to the point of intoxication and did not consider it a sin and did not repent, but, on the contrary, I also tempted others to the same. They also pointed out to me when on Sundays I happened to drink before the holy Liturgy, and they pointed out many similar things to me from my sins of gluttony and rejoiced, already considering me in their power, and intended to take me to the bottom of hell; but I, seeing myself convicted and having nothing to say against them, trembled. But the holy angels, having borrowed from the treasury of St. Basil his good deeds, covered my sins and removed those evil spirits from the power. Seeing this, they raised a cry: "Woe to us! Our labors are gone! Our hope is gone!" - and began to let the bundles through the air, where my sins were written; I was glad, and then we went from there unhindered.

On the way to the next ordeal, the holy angels were talking to each other. They said: "This soul receives truly great help from the saint of God, Basil: if his prayers did not help her, she would have to experience great need, passing through air ordeals."

So spoke the angels accompanying me, and I took the liberty of asking them: "My Lord, it seems to me that none of those living on earth knows what happens here, and what awaits a sinful soul after death?" The holy angels answered me: “Do the Divine Scriptures, always read in churches and preached by the servants of God, say little about this! thus the womb is their god, not thinking about the future life and forgetting the words of Scripture: Woe to you, now full, as if you will thirst, and drunkards, as if you will thirst. They consider Holy Scripture to be fables and live in neglect of their souls, feasting with songs and music and but those who are merciful and merciful, do good to the poor and needy - these receive forgiveness of their sins from God and for their alms go through ordeals without much torment, according to the word of Scripture: alms from death delivers and melts forgives every sin. Those who do alms and righteousness are filled with lives, and those who do not try to cleanse their sins by alms can not avoid these trials. aniy, and the dark-looking princes of the ordeals, whom you saw, kidnap them and, cruelly tormenting them, take them to the bottom of hell and keep them in chains until the terrible judgment of Christ. And you yourself would not have been able to avoid this if it were not for the treasury of the good deeds of the Monk Basil, from which your sins were covered.

Ordeal 5

In such a conversation, we have reached the fifth ordeal, the ordeal of Sloth, in which a person gives an answer for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites are also detained here, feeding on other people's labors and not wanting to do anything themselves, or taking payment for unfulfilled work. They also ask for a report from those who do not care about the glory of the name of God and are lazy on holidays and Sundays to go to the Divine Liturgy and other services of God. Here, negligence and despondency, laziness and negligence about one's soul, both worldly people and spiritual people, are experienced, and many are led into the abyss from here. I was also tested a lot here, and if it were not for the virtues of St. Basil, which made up for the lack of my good deeds, then I would not be freed from the debt to the evil spirits of this ordeal for my sins; but they covered everything and I was taken out of there.

Ordeal 6

We have come to the sixth ordeal - Theft. In it, we were briefly detained, and a few good deeds were required to cover my sins, because I did not commit theft, except for one, very small, in my childhood through foolishness.

Ordeal 7

The seventh ordeal, the love of money and stinginess, we passed without delay, because, by the grace of God, I never in my life cared about many acquisitions and was not greedy, I was content with what God gave, and was not stingy, but what I had, generously distributed to those in need.

Ordeal 8

Ascending higher, we have entered the eighth ordeal, the ordeal of Covetousness, where those who lend their money on interest and thereby receive unrighteous acquisitions are tested. Here, those who appropriate someone else's give an account. The crafty spirits of this ordeal carefully searched me, and not finding any sin behind me, they gnashed their teeth; we, having thanked God, went higher.

Ordeal 9

We have reached the ninth ordeal, the ordeal of Unrighteousness, where all unrighteous judges are tortured, who conduct their court for money, justify the guilty, condemn the innocent; here those who do not pay due wages to mercenaries or use the wrong measure in trade and the like are tortured. But we, by the grace of God, passed this ordeal without hindrance, covering my sins of this kind with only a few good deeds.

Ordeal 10

We also successfully passed the next tenth ordeal, called the ordeal of Envy. I did not have any sins of this kind at all, because I never envied. And although other sins were also experienced here: dislike, fraternal hatred, enmity, hatred, but, by the mercy of God, I turned out to be innocent of all these sins and saw how demons gnashed their teeth furiously, but I was not afraid of them, and, rejoicing, we went higher.

Ordeal 11

The eleventh ordeal met, where they test the sins of Pride, where arrogant and proud spirits test those who are vain, think a lot about themselves and magnify themselves; especially carefully here they test the souls of those who are disrespectful to their father and mother, as well as to the authorities appointed by God: cases of disobedience to them, and other deeds of pride, and vain words are considered. It took me very, very few good deeds to cover the sins of this ordeal, and I received freedom.

Ordeal 12

Ascending further towards the sky, we met the twelfth ordeal, the ordeal of Wrath. Happy is the man who, while living, did not experience anger. And here again the oldest of the evil spirits was here and sat on the throne, filled with anger, fury and pride. With fury and anger, he ordered his servants who were here to torment and torture me. The latter, like dogs, licking their lips, began to inform me not only about everything that I really ever said with rage or anger, or whom I hurt with a word, but also about the fact that I once looked at my children with anger or severely punished them. They presented all this very vividly, even indicating the time when what happened, and the faces of those on whom I once poured out my anger. And, repeating even my original words, which I then uttered, they said in front of which people I had uttered this. To all this the Angels answered by giving from the ark, and we went higher.

Ordeal 13

We met the thirteenth ordeal - rancor. Like robbers, evil spirits jumped up to us and, testing me, wanted to find something written in their charters, but since, through the prayer of St. Basil, they did not find anything, they sobbed. I was sinful in many ways, but I had love for everyone - both great and small, never offended anyone, never remembered evil, never took revenge on others for evil. We continued on without stopping.

On the way, I asked the holy angels who led me: “My Lord, I beg you, tell me how these terrible aerial authorities know all the evil deeds of all people that live in the world, just like mine, and not only created in reality, but also which only the one who did them knows? The Holy Angels answered me: “Every Christian from the very Holy Baptism receives from God a Guardian Angel, who invisibly guards a person and throughout his life, even until the hour of death, instructs him in all good and all these good deeds that a person does during his life. earthly life, writes it down so that he can receive mercy for them from the Lord and eternal recompense in the Kingdom of Heaven.So the prince of darkness, who wants to destroy the human race, assigns to each person one of the evil spirits, who always walks after a person and watches all of his from youth, evil deeds, encouraging them with his machinations, and collects everything that a person has done wrong.Then he refers all these sins to ordeals, writing each in the appropriate place.From here all the sins of all the people that only live in the world are known to the airy princes. When the soul is separated from the body and strives to ascend to heaven to its Creator, then the evil spirits hinder it, showing the lists of its sins; and if the soul has good ate more than sins, they cannot keep her; when there are more sins on her than good deeds, then they hold her for a while, imprison her in the ignorance of God and torment her, as far as the power of God allows them, until the soul, through the prayers of the Church and relatives, receives freedom. If, however, it turns out that a soul is so sinful and unworthy before God that all hope for its salvation is lost and it is threatened with eternal death, then it is brought down into the abyss, where it remains until the second coming of the Lord, when eternal torment in fiery hell begins for it. Know also that only the souls of those who are enlightened by holy baptism are tested in this way. But those who do not believe in Christ, idolaters, and in general all those who do not know the true God do not ascend this way, because during earthly life they live only in body, but in soul they are already buried in hell. And when they die, demons without any trial take their souls and bring them down to hell and the abyss.

Ordeal 14

While I was talking in this way with the holy angels, we came to the fourteenth ordeal - the ordeal of Robbery. Here not only robbery is tortured, but they demand an account for any punishment inflicted on someone, for any blow on the shoulders or on the head, on the cheek or on the neck, or when someone with anger pushes his neighbor away from himself. The evil spirits test all this here in detail and weigh it; we went through this ordeal without hindrance, leaving a small part of good deeds to cover my sins.

Ordeal 15

We passed without hindrance the fifteenth ordeal, the ordeal of sorcery, charm, poisoning, invoking demons. The spirits of this ordeal are similar in appearance to four-legged reptiles, scorpions, snakes and toads; in a word, it is terrible and vile to look at them. By the grace of God, the spirits of this ordeal did not find in me a single such sin, and we went on; the spirits furiously shouted after me: "Let's see how you leave the prodigal places when you get there!"

When we began to ascend higher, I asked the angels who led me: "My Lord, do all Christians go through these ordeals and is there no opportunity for anyone to go through here without torture and fear?" The holy angels answered me: “For the souls of believers ascending to heaven, there is no other way - everyone goes here, but not everyone is so tested in ordeals like you, but only sinners like you, that is, those who, out of shame, did not open sincerely spiritual father of all his sins at confession, but if someone sincerely repents of all sins, then the sins, by the mercy of God, are invisibly blotted out, and when such a soul passes here, the airy tormentors open their books and find nothing written behind it; then they no longer can frighten her, cause her something unpleasant, and the soul ascends in joy to the throne of grace.And you, if you would repent of everything before your spiritual father and receive permission from him, you would avoid the horrors of going through ordeals; but something else helps you, that you have long ceased to commit mortal sins and led a virtuous life for many years, and mainly the prayers of St. Basil, whom you diligently served on earth, help you.

Ordeal 16

We walked and talked. Imperceptibly before us appeared the sixteenth ordeal - the ordeal of Fornication, where a person is tortured for any fornication and for all impure passionate thoughts, for consent to sin, for bad touches and passionate touches. The prince of this ordeal sat on the throne, dressed in stinking, nasty clothes, sprinkled with bloody foam and replacing the royal scarlet; many demons stood before him. When they saw me, they were surprised that I had reached their ordeal, and they took out the scrolls in which my fornication deeds were recorded, began to recount them, indicating the persons with whom I sinned in my youth, and the time when I sinned, i.e. day or night, and the places where she committed sin. I could not answer them and stood trembling with shame and fear. The holy angels who led me began to say to the demons: "She had long ago left her prodigal life and spent all this time in purity and abstinence." The demons answered: “And we know that she stopped leading a prodigal life, but she didn’t open up to her spiritual father and didn’t carry a penance from him to make amends for her previous sins - therefore she is ours, and you either leave or redeem her with good deeds” . The holy angels pointed to many of my good deeds, and even more, the good deeds of the Monk Basil covered my sins, and I barely got rid of the fierce misfortune. We went further.

Ordeal 17

The next ordeal, the seventeenth, was the ordeal of Adultery, where the sins of those living in marriage are tortured: if someone has not preserved marital fidelity, has defiled his bed, he must give an account here. Those who are sinful in kidnapping for fornication, in violence are also tortured here. Here they also test persons who have dedicated themselves to God and made a vow of chastity, but who did not keep their vow and fell into fornication; the torture of these is especially formidable. At this ordeal, I turned out to be a lot of sinners, they convicted me of adultery, and the evil spirits already wanted to steal me from the hands of the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell. But the holy angels argued a lot with them and barely redeemed me, leaving all my good deeds here to the last and adding quite a lot from the treasury of St. Basil. And taking me from them, we went on.

Ordeal 18

We then appeared at the eighteenth ordeal - the ordeal of Sodom, where all unnatural fornication sins and incest are tortured, and in general all the most vile, secretly committed deeds, about which, according to the word of the apostle, it is shameful to speak (Eph. 5, 12). I was not guilty of the sins of this ordeal, and we soon passed it.

When we climbed higher, the holy angels told me: “You saw terrible and disgusting prodigal ordeals. Know that a rare soul passes them freely: the whole world is immersed in the evil of temptations and filth, almost all people are voluptuous; the thought of a human heart is evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21) Few are those who mortify carnal lusts, and few are those who would freely pass by these ordeals. Most of them, having reached here, perish. Thank God, Theodora, that you have passed through these prodigal torturers with the prayers of your father, St. Basil. You will no longer see fear.

Ordeal 19

After the prodigal ordeals, we came to the nineteenth ordeal, which is called Idolatry and all sorts of heresies, where people are tortured for wrong opinions about the subjects of the faith, as well as for apostasy from the Orthodox faith, distrust of the true teaching, doubts in faith, blasphemy and the like. I went through this ordeal without stopping, and we were already not far from the gates of heaven.

Ordeal 20

But before we reached the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, we met the twentieth ordeal, which is called the ordeal of Unmercy and Hardness of Heart. The torturers of this ordeal are especially cruel, especially their prince. In appearance, he is dry, despondent, and in a rage chokes with merciless fire. In this ordeal, the souls of the merciless are tested without mercy. And if someone turns out to have accomplished many feats, observed strict fasts, was vigilant in prayers, preserved purity of heart and mortified the flesh by abstinence, but was merciless, unmerciful, deaf to the prayers of his neighbor - that one from this ordeal is reduced to the valley, lies in the hellish abyss and does not receive forgiveness forever. But we, through the prayers of St. Basil, who helped me everywhere with his good deeds, passed this ordeal without hindrance.

After ordeals

With this, a series of aerial ordeals ended, and we joyfully approached the gates of heaven. These gates were bright as a crystal, and all around there was a radiance that cannot be described; sunlike young men shone in them, who, seeing me led by angels to the heavenly gates, were filled with joy because I, covered by the mercy of God, went through all the aerial ordeals. They kindly greeted us and led us inside.

What I saw and what I heard there, Gregory - it's impossible to describe! I was brought to the Throne of God's impregnable glory, which was surrounded by Cherubim, Seraphim, and multitudes of heavenly armies, praising God with unspeakable songs; I fell on my face and bowed to the invisible and inaccessible to the mind of the human Deity. Then the heavenly powers sang a sweet song, praising the mercy of God, which the sins of people cannot exhaust, and a voice was heard commanding the angels who led me to take me to see the abodes of the saints, as well as all the torments of sinners, and then calm me down in the abodes prepared for the blessed Vasily. By this command, I was taken everywhere, and I saw villages and cloisters filled with glory and grace, prepared for those who love God. Those who led me showed me separately the cloisters of the Apostles, and the cloisters of the Prophets, and the cloisters of the Martyrs, and the cloisters of Saints, and the cloisters special for each rank of saints. Each monastery was distinguished by its extraordinary beauty, and in terms of length and width I could compare each with Tsaregrad, if only they were not even better and did not have many bright rooms not made by hands. All those who were there, seeing me, rejoiced at my salvation, met and kissed me, glorifying God, who delivered me from the evil one.

When we went around these cloisters, I was sent down to the underworld, and there I saw the unbearable terrible torments that are prepared in hell for sinners. Showing them, the angels who led me said to me: “You see, Theodora, from what torment, through the prayers of St. Basil, the Lord delivered you.” I heard screams and weeping and bitter sobs there; some groaned, others angrily exclaimed: alas for us! There were those who cursed the day of their birth, but there was no one who would pity them. Having finished examining the places of torment, the angels took me out of there and brought me to the monastery of St. Basil, saying to me: "Now the Monk Basil is making a memory of you." Then I realized that I had come to this resting place forty days after my separation from the body.

So, now, my spiritual child Gregory, after forty days of separation of my soul from the body, I am in this place, which is prepared for our reverend father Basil. You are still in the world and St. Basil too. He instructs all who come to him on the path of truth and, forcing them to repent, turns many to the Lord. Follow me, we will enter my inner peace, in which I am, and examine it. The Monk Basil was here recently before your arrival.

I followed her and we went in together. As we walked, I saw that her vestments were as white as snow. We entered the palace, which was decorated with gold. In the middle of it were various trees with beautiful fruits, and looking to the east, I saw luxurious chambers, bright, high. Here was a large refectory table, on which stood golden vessels, very expensive, causing astonishment. In these vessels were vegetables of different varieties, from which wonderful fragrances emanated. Saint Basil was also here. He sat on a wonderful throne. Here, near the meal, people were reclining, but not like those who live on earth and who have a body, no! Those were surrounded, as it were, by the rays of the sun, but they had only a human image. When they ate from this meal, it was filled again. All of them beautiful young men served food. When one of those reclining at the meal was thirsty, then, pouring the drink into his mouth, he experienced spiritual sweetness. They spent long hours eating. The young men who served them were girded with golden belts, and on their heads were crowns made of expensive stone. Theodora, going up to the monk, begged him for me. The reverend, looking at me, joyfully called me to him. I approached, bowed to him, as usual, to the ground. He quietly said to me: "God will have mercy on you and forgive you, my child! He, the All-Merciful, will reward you with all heavenly blessings." Picking me up from the ground, he continued: "Here is Theodora. You asked me so much about this - now you see her, where she is and what fate her soul was worth in this afterlife. Look now at her."

Theodora, looking at me with joy, said: "Brother Gregory! The merciful Lord, because you thought of me humbly, fulfilled your desire, thanks to the prayer of our reverend father Basil." The monk, turning to Theodora, said to her: "Go with him and show me my garden. Let him see its beauty." Taking my right hand, she led me to the wall, in which there were golden gates, and opening them, led me into the garden.

I saw wonderfully beautiful trees there: their leaves were golden, they were decorated with flowers and emitted an unusually pleasant aroma. There were countless such beautiful trees, and their branches bowed to the ground from the weight of the fruit. All this amazed me. Theodora, turning to me, asked: “What are you surprised about? Now, if you saw a garden called paradise, which the Lord Himself planted in the east, how would you be surprised then?! Probably, you would be amazed at its grandeur and beauty. This one is against paradise nothing..." I begged Theodora to tell me who planted this garden. I had never seen anything like it... She replied that I could not see anything like it, since I was still on earth, and here everything is unearthly, and they spend their life here unearthly.

Only a life full of work and sweat, which our reverend father Basil led from youth to extreme old age, only intensified prayers and hardships that he endured, sleeping on the bare ground, often enduring heat and frost, sometimes eating only one grass, before he entered he went to Constantinople - only such an ascetic life served to save him and through him many of the people. Only for such a life and for the prayers of such ascetics God gives these cloisters in the afterlife. Whoever endures a lot of sorrows and misfortunes in his earthly life, who strictly guards the commandments of the Lord and fulfills them exactly, receives reward and consolation in the afterlife. The holy psalmist David said: Bear the fruits of your labors.

When Theodora said that life in heaven is different from life on earth, I involuntarily touched myself, as if wanting to know if I was still in the flesh, and, of course, I was convinced of this. My feelings and thoughts were pure, and my spirit rejoiced in everything I saw. I wanted to return to the palace through the same gate through which I had entered. When I entered there, I did not find anyone at the meal. After bowing to Theodora, I returned home.

And at that very moment I woke up and thought: "Where was I? What was all that I saw and heard?" Rising from my bed, I went to St. Basil to find out from him whether this vision was from God or from demons. Coming to him, I bowed to the ground. He blessed me, ordered me to sit near him and asked: "Do you know, child, where were you that night?" Presenting myself as ignorant, I answered: "Nowhere, father, I was not - I slept on my bed." The monk said: “True, you really rested in your body in your bed, but in spirit you were in another place and you know everything that was shown to you that night. You saw Theodora. When you approached the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, she greeted you with joy, led you inside this house, showed you everything, told you about your death and all the ordeals that you went through. Didn’t you go to the yard at my command, where you saw a wonderful meal and its marvelous arrangement? Didn’t you see vegetables there: what is their sweetness what colors, what kind of drink, and what kind of young men served at the table? Did you not stand looking at the beauty of these chambers? When I came, did I not show you Theodora, whom you desired to see, so that you might learn from her what she was awarded for her a pious life? Did she not take you at my command, and did she not bring you into the Holy City? Was it not in your vision that very night? How can you say that you did not see any of this?"

When I heard this from the saint, I had no doubt that it was not a dream, that it was not a dream, but a real vision sent by the Lord God. I thought to myself: "How great is this righteous man with God, who was there both in body and soul, and he knows everything that I saw and heard!"

I shed tears and said: “True, holy father, everything was as you told. And I thank the Vladyka of mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ, who made me see all this and instructed me to resort to you in order to constantly be under the protection of your prayers and enjoy seeing such great wonders."

The saint said to me: “If, child Gregory, you complete your life path correctly, without deviating from the Divine commandments, then after death the evil spirits living in the ordeals of the air will not have time to do anything to you, as you yourself heard from Theodora. Having passed the ordeals, you will be blessed and will be received with joy where you were recently in spirit and where you saw Theodora, where I, a sinful one, hoping in Christ, who promised me to give His grace, I think to receive the monastery you saw.

http://www.pravoslavnaya-biblioteka.ru/mitarstva-blajenney-feodori/

The ordeal of Blessed Theodora. Rev. Basil was a novice of Theodore, who served him a lot; having accepted the monastic rank, she departed to the Lord. One of the disciples of the monk, Gregory, had a desire to find out where Theodora was after her repose, whether she had been vouchsafed from the Lord mercy and joy for her service to the holy elder. Often thinking about this, Gregory asked the elder to answer him what happened to Theodora, for he firmly believed that the saint of God knew all this. Not wanting to upset his spiritual son, St. Basil prayed that the Lord would reveal to him the fate of the blessed Theodora. And so Gregory saw her in a dream - in a bright monastery, full of heavenly glory and inexpressible blessings, which was prepared by God for St. Basil, and in which Theodora was installed through his prayers. Seeing her, Gregory was delighted and asked her how her soul was separated from her body, what she saw at her death, how she passed through the air trials. Theodora answered these questions as follows: “Child Gregory, you asked about a terrible deed, it’s terrible to remember him. I saw faces I had never seen and heard words I had never heard. What can I tell you? Terrible and terrible I had to see and hear for my deeds, but with the help and prayers of our father, the Monk Basil, everything was easy for me. How can I convey to you, child, that bodily torment, that fear and confusion that the dying have to experience! Just as fire burns what is thrown into it and turns it into ashes, so the torment of death at the last hour destroys a person. Truly terrible is the death of sinners like me! So, when the hour came for the separation of my soul from the body, I saw around my bed a lot of Ethiopians, black as soot or pitch, with eyes burning like coals. They raised a noise and shout: some roared like cattle and beasts, others barked like dogs, others howled like wolves, and others grunted like pigs. All of them, looking at me, raged, threatened, gnashed their teeth, as if they wanted to eat me; they prepared charters in which all my bad deeds were recorded. Then my poor soul trembled; it was as if the torment of death did not exist for me: the terrible vision of the terrible Ethiopians was for me another, more terrible death. I turned away my eyes so as not to see their terrible faces, but they were everywhere and their voices were carried from everywhere. When I was completely exhausted, I saw two Angels of God approaching me in the form of beautiful youths; their faces were bright, their eyes looked with love, the hair on their heads was white as snow and shone like gold; the clothes were like the light of lightning, and on the chest they were cross-girded with golden belts. Approaching my bed, they stood beside me on the right side, talking quietly to each other. When I saw them, I rejoiced; the black Ethiopians trembled and moved away; one of the bright young men addressed them with the following words: “O shameless, damned, gloomy and evil enemies of the human race! Why are you always in a hurry to come to the bed of the dying, making a noise, frighten and confuse every soul that is separated from the body? But do not rejoice too much, you will not find anything here, for God is merciful to her and you have no part and share in this soul. After hearing this, the Ethiopians rushed about, raising a strong cry and saying: “How do we not have a part in this soul? And these are whose sins,” they said, pointing to the scrolls where all my bad deeds were written, “didn’t she do this and that?” And having said this, they stood and waited for my death. Finally, death itself came, roaring like a lion and very terrible in appearance; she looked like a man, only she had no body and was made up of bare human bones only. With her were various tools for torment: swords, spears, arrows, scythes, saws, axes and other tools unknown to me. My poor soul trembled when it saw this. The holy angels said to death: why are you delaying, free this soul from the body, free it quietly and soon, because there are no many sins behind it. In obedience to this order, death approached me, took a small cord and first of all cut off my legs, then my arms, then gradually cut off my other members with other tools, separating composition from composition, and my whole body became dead. Then, taking an adze, she cut off my head, and it became as if a stranger to me, for I could not turn it around. After that, death made some kind of drink in the cup and, bringing it to my lips, forced me to drink. This drink was so bitter that my soul could not endure it - it shuddered and jumped out of the body, as if forcibly torn out of it. Then the bright Angels took her into their arms. I turned back and saw my body lying soulless, insensible and motionless, just as if someone takes off his clothes and, throwing them away, looks at her - so I looked at my body, from which I had freed myself, and was very surprised at this. The demons, who were in the form of Ethiopians, surrounded the holy angels holding me and shouted, showing my sins: “This soul has many sins, let it give us an answer for them!” But the holy angels began to look for my good deeds and, by the grace of God, they found and collected everything that with the help of the Lord was good done by me: whether I ever gave alms, or fed the hungry, or gave the thirsty to drink, or clothed the naked, or led the stranger into her house and calmed him, or served the saints, or visited the sick and those in prison and helped him, or when she went to church with zeal and prayed with tenderness and tears, or when she listened with attention to church reading and singing, or brought incense to church and candles, or made some other kind of offering, or poured wooden oil into the lamps in front of the holy icons and kissed them with reverence, or when fasting and during all holy fasts on Wednesday and Friday did not eat food, or how many bows did she make and prayed at night, or when she turned to God with all her soul and wept over her sins, or when, with full heartfelt repentance, she confessed her sins to God before her spiritual father and tried to bury them to do good deeds, or when she did some good for her neighbor, or when she was not angry with someone who was at enmity with me, or when she suffered some insult and scolding and did not remember them and was not angry for them, or when she repaid good for evil, or when she humbled herself or lamented about someone else's misfortune, or she herself was sick and meekly endured, or took ill with other sick people, and comforted the crying, or gave someone a helping hand, or helped in a good deed, or kept someone from a bad one, or when she did not pay attention to vain deeds, or kept from vain swearing or slander and idle talk, and all my other smallest deeds were collected by holy angels, preparing to lay against my sins. The Ethiopians, seeing this, gnashed their teeth, because they wanted to kidnap me from the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell. At this time, our reverend father Basil unexpectedly appeared there and said to the holy angels: “My Lord, this soul served me a lot, calming my old age, and I prayed to God, and He gave it to me.” Having said this, he took out from his bosom a golden bag, all full, as I thought, of pure gold, and gave it to the holy angels, saying: “When you go through air ordeals and evil spirits begin torturing this soul, redeem her with this from her debts. ; I am rich by the grace of God, because I have collected many treasures for myself by my labors, and I give this bag to the soul that served me. Having said this, he disappeared. The crafty demons, seeing this, were perplexed and, raising lamentable cries, also disappeared. Then the saint of God, Basil, came again and brought many vessels with pure oil, dear ointment, and, opening each vessel one by one, poured everything on me, and a fragrance spilled from me. Then I realized that I had changed and became especially bright. The saint again turned to the angels with the following words: “My Lord, when you have done everything that is necessary for this soul, take it to the house prepared for me by the Lord God and settle it there.” Having said this, he became invisible, and the holy angels took me, and we went through the air to the east, rising to the sky.

Ordeal 1st When we ascended from the earth to heavenly heights, first we were met by the airy spirits of the first ordeal, in which the sins of idle talk are tested. Here we stopped. We were brought out a multitude of scrolls, in which were written down all the words that I had only spoken from my youth, all that I had said thoughtlessly and, moreover, shameful. All the blasphemous deeds of my youth were written down, as well as the idle laughter to which youth is so prone. I immediately saw the bad words that I had ever spoken, shameless worldly songs, and the spirits denounced me, pointing out both the place and the time and the persons with whom I engaged in idle conversations and angered God with my words, and did not at all consider it a sin and therefore did not confess this to the spiritual father. Looking at these scrolls, I was silent as if deprived of the gift of speech, because I had nothing to answer them: everything that was written down by them was true. And I was surprised how they didn’t forget anything, because so many years have passed and I myself have long forgotten about it. They tested me in detail and in the most skillful way, and little by little I remembered everything. But the holy angels who led me put an end to my trial at the first ordeal: they covered my sins, pointing out to the evil ones some of my former good deeds, and what was missing from them to cover my sins, added from the virtues of my father, the Monk Basil, and redeemed me from the first ordeal, and we went further.

Ordeal 2nd We have approached another ordeal, called the ordeal of lies. Here a person gives an account for every false word, but mainly for perjury, for the vain invocation of the name of the Lord, for false testimonies, for not fulfilling the vows given to God, for insincere confession of sins, and for everything like that, when a person resorts to lies. The spirits in this ordeal are fierce and cruel, and they test those who go through this ordeal especially hard. When they stopped us, they began to ask me all the details, and I was convicted of having lied twice about the smallest things, so that I did not put it in my sin, and also that once from - for shame, she did not tell the whole truth in confession to her spiritual father. Having caught me in a lie, the spirits came to great joy and already wanted to kidnap me from the hands of the angels, but they, to cover the sins found, pointed to my good deeds, and replenished the missing with the good deeds of my father, the Monk Basil, and thus redeemed me from this ordeal, and we went up unhindered.

Ordeal 3rd The ordeal, to which we came later, is called the ordeal of condemnation and slander. Here, when we were stopped, I saw how seriously the one who condemns his neighbor sins, and how much evil is when one slanders another, dishonors him, scolds him, when he swears and laughs at other people's sins, not paying attention to his own. Terrible spirits test sinners in this because they anticipate the order of Christ and become judges and destroyers of their neighbors, when they themselves are immeasurably more worthy of condemnation. In this ordeal, by the grace of God, I did not turn out to be a sinner in many ways, because all my life I was careful not to condemn anyone, not to slander anyone, did not mock anyone, did not scold anyone; sometimes only, listening to how others condemned their neighbors, slandered them or laughed at them, in my thoughts I partly agreed with them and, through negligence, added a little of myself to their speeches, but, having come to my senses, I immediately restrained myself. But even this, the spirits that tested me, put me in sin, and only through the merits of the Monk Basil did the holy angels free me from this ordeal, and we went higher.

Ordeal 4th Continuing the path, we reached a new ordeal, which is called the ordeal of gluttony. Bad spirits ran out to meet us, rejoicing that a new victim was coming towards them. The appearance of these spirits was ugly: they depicted various types of voluptuous gluttons and vile drunkards; they carried dishes and bowls with dishes and various drinks. Food and drink also looked vile, like stinking pus and vomit. The spirits of this ordeal seemed sated and drunk, they jumped with music in their hands and did everything that feasters usually do, and cursed the souls of sinners, who were led by them to the ordeal. These spirits, like dogs, surrounded us, stopped and began to show all my sins of this kind: whether I ever ate secretly or through force and beyond the need, or in the morning, like a pig, without prayer and the sign of the cross, or ate during holy fasts before the time appointed by the church charter, or because of intemperance, she ate before dinner, or during dinner she was oversatiated. They also calculated my drunkenness, showing the cups and vessels from which I got drunk, and they directly said: you drank so many cups at such and such a time, and at such and such a feast, with such and such people; and in another place she drank so much and went into unconsciousness and vomiting, and so many times she feasted and danced to the music, clapping her hands, sang songs and jumped, and when they brought you home, she was exhausted from immeasurable drunkenness; the evil spirits also showed me those cups from which I sometimes drank in the morning and on fasting days for the sake of guests, or when, due to weakness, I drank to the point of intoxication and did not consider it a sin and did not repent, but, on the contrary, I also tempted others to the same. They also pointed out to me when on Sundays I happened to drink before the holy Liturgy, and they pointed out many similar things to me from my sins of gluttony and rejoiced, already considering me in their power, and intended to take me to the bottom of hell; but I, seeing myself convicted and having nothing to say against them, trembled. But the holy angels, having borrowed from the treasury of St. Basil his good deeds, covered my sins and removed those evil spirits from the power. Seeing this, they raised a cry: “Woe to us! Our work is gone! Our hope is gone! - and began to let the bundles through the air, where my sins were written; I was glad, and then we went from there unhindered. On the way to the next ordeal, the holy angels were talking to each other. They said: “This soul receives truly great help from the saint of God, Basil: if his prayers did not help her, she would have to experience great need, passing through air ordeals.” So spoke the angels accompanying me, and I took the liberty of asking them: “My Lord, it seems to me that none of those living on earth knows what happens here, and what awaits a sinful soul after death?” The holy angels answered me: “Do the divine writings, always read in the churches and preached by the servants of God, say little about this! Only those who are addicted to earthly vanity do not pay attention to this, finding a special charm in eating daily to satiety and getting drunk, thus making the womb their god, not thinking about the future life and forgetting the words of Scripture: woe to you, now satisfied, as if you will covet and drunkards, as if you were thirsty. They consider the Holy Scriptures to be fables and live in neglect of their souls, feasting with songs and music, and every day, like the gospel rich man, rejoicing lightly. But those who are merciful and merciful, do good to the poor and wretched - these receive from God the forgiveness of their sins and for their alms without much torment they go through ordeals, according to the word of Scripture: alms from death delivers and melts away every sin. Those who do alms and truth are filled with life, and those who do not try to cleanse their sins by alms can not avoid these trials, and the dark-looking princes of ordeals, whom you saw, kidnap them and, cruelly tormenting them, take them to the bottom of hell and keep them in chains to the terrible judgment of Christ. And you yourself would not have been able to avoid this, if it were not for the treasury of the good deeds of the Monk Basil, from which your sins were covered.

Ordeal 5th Having talked in this way, we have come to the ordeal, called the ordeal of laziness, in which a person gives an answer for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites are also detained here, feeding on other people's labors and not wanting to do anything themselves, or taking payment for unfulfilled work. They also ask for a report from those who do not care about the glory of the name of God and are lazy on holidays and Sundays to go to the Divine Liturgy and other services of God. Here, negligence and despondency, laziness and negligence for one's soul, both worldly people and spiritual people, are experienced, and many are led into the abyss from here. They tested me a lot here, and if it were not for the virtues of St. Basil, which made up for the lack of my good deeds, then I would not be freed from the debt to the evil spirits of this ordeal for my sins; but they covered everything and I was taken out of there. Ordeal 6th The next ordeal is theft. In it, we were briefly detained, and a few good deeds were required to cover my sins, because I did not commit theft, except for one, very small, in my childhood through foolishness. Ordeal 7th After the ordeal of theft, we came to the ordeal of avarice and avarice. But we also passed this ordeal safely, because, by the grace of God, I did not care during my earthly life about acquiring an estate and was not a money-lover, but pleased with what the Lord sent me, I was not stingy, and what I had, then diligently gave to those in need.

Ordeal 8th Ascending higher, we have reached the ordeal, called the ordeal of covetousness, where those who give their money at interest and through it receive unrighteous acquisitions are tested. Here, those who appropriate someone else's give an account. The crafty spirits of this ordeal carefully searched me, and not finding any sin behind me, they gnashed their teeth; we, having thanked God, went higher. The ordeal 9th ​​We have reached the ordeal, called the ordeal of unrighteousness, where all unjust judges are tortured, who conduct their court for money, justify the guilty, condemn the innocent; here those who do not pay due wages to mercenaries or use the wrong measure in trade and the like are tortured. But we, by the grace of God, passed this ordeal without hindrance, covering my sins of this kind with only a few good deeds. The 10th ordeal We also successfully passed the next ordeal, called the ordeal of envy. I did not have any sins of this kind at all, because I never envied. And although other sins were also experienced here: dislike, fraternal hatred, enmity, hatred, but, by the mercy of God, I turned out to be innocent of all these sins and saw how demons gnashed their teeth furiously, but I was not afraid of them, and, rejoicing, we went higher.

Ordeal 11th In a similar way we also passed the ordeal of pride, where arrogant and proud spirits test those who are vain, think a lot about themselves and magnify themselves; especially carefully here they test the souls of those who are disrespectful to their father and mother, as well as to the authorities appointed by God: cases of disobedience to them, and other deeds of pride, and vain words are considered. It took me very, very few good deeds to cover the sins of this ordeal, and I received freedom. Ordeal 12th The new ordeal, which we then reached, was the ordeal of anger and rage; but even here, despite the fact that the spirits torturing here are fierce, they received little from us, and we continued on our way, thanking God, covering my sins with the prayers of my father, St. Basil. The 13th ordeal After the ordeal of anger and rage, we imagined a ordeal in which those who in their hearts harbor evil against their neighbor and repay evil for evil are mercilessly tortured. From here, the spirits of malice with particular fury bring down the souls of sinners into tartar. But the mercy of God did not leave me here either: I never had malice against anyone, I did not remember the evil done to me, but, on the contrary, I forgave my enemies and, as far as I could, showed my love for them, thus conquering evil with good. Therefore, I did not turn out to be sinful in this ordeal, the demons sobbed that I was freely leaving their fierce hands; we happily continued on our way. On the way, I asked the holy angels who led me: “My Lord, I beg you, tell me how these terrible aerial authorities know all the evil deeds of all people that live in the world, just like mine, and not only created in reality, but also which only the one who did them knows? The holy angels answered me: “Every Christian, from the very holy baptism, receives a Guardian Angel from God, who invisibly guards a person and throughout his whole life, even until the hour of death, instructs him in all good and all these good deeds that a person does during his life. earthly life, writes it down so that he can receive mercy from the Lord for them and eternal retribution in the Kingdom of Heaven. So the prince of darkness, who wants to destroy the human race, assigns to each person one of the evil spirits, who always walks after the person and observes all his evil deeds from his youth, encouraging them with his machinations, and collects everything that the person has done wrong. Then he takes all these sins to the ordeal, writing each one in the appropriate place. Hence, all the sins of all people who only live in the world are known to the airy princes. When the soul is separated from the body and strives to ascend to heaven to its Creator, then the evil spirits hinder it, showing the lists of its sins; and if the soul has more good deeds than sins, they cannot restrain it; when there are more sins on her than good deeds, then they hold her for a while, imprison her in the ignorance of God and torment her, as far as the power of God allows them, until the soul, through the prayers of the Church and relatives, receives freedom. If, however, it turns out that a soul is so sinful and unworthy before God that all hope for its salvation is lost and it is threatened with eternal death, then it is brought down into the abyss, where it remains until the second coming of the Lord, when eternal torment in fiery hell begins for it. Know also that only the souls of those who are enlightened by holy baptism are tested in this way. But those who do not believe in Christ, idolaters, and in general all those who do not know the true God do not ascend this way, because during earthly life they live only in body, but in soul they are already buried in hell. And when they die, demons without any trial take their souls and bring them down to hell and the abyss.

The 14th ordeal While I was talking in this way with the holy angels, we entered the ordeal called the ordeal of murder. Here not only robbery is tortured, but they demand an account for any punishment inflicted on someone, for any blow on the shoulders or on the head, on the cheek or on the neck, or when someone with anger pushes his neighbor away from himself. The evil spirits test all this here in detail and weigh it; we went through this ordeal without hindrance, leaving a small part of good deeds to cover my sins. The 15th ordeal We passed the next ordeal without hindrance, where they are tortured by spirits for sorcery, sorcery, charm, whispering, invoking demons. The spirits of this ordeal are similar in appearance to four-legged reptiles, to scorpions, snakes and toads; in a word, it is terrible and vile to look at them. By the grace of God, the spirits of this ordeal did not find in me a single such sin, and we went on; the spirits furiously shouted after me: “Let's see how you leave the prodigal places when you get there!” When we began to ascend higher, I asked the angels who led me: “My Lord, do all Christians go through these ordeals and is it possible for anyone to go through here without torture and fear?” The holy angels answered me: “For the souls of believers ascending to heaven, there is no other way - everyone goes here, but not everyone is so tested in ordeals like you, but only sinners like you, that is, those who, out of shame, did not open sincerely spiritual father of all his sins at confession. If someone sincerely repents of all sins, then the sins, by the mercy of God, are invisibly blotted out, and when such a soul passes here, the airy torturers open their books and find nothing written behind it; then they can no longer frighten her, cause her anything unpleasant, and the soul ascends in joy to the throne of grace. And you, if you repented of everything before your spiritual father and received permission from him, would have avoided the horrors of going through ordeals; but it also helps you that you have long ceased to commit mortal sins and have been leading a virtuous life for many years, and mainly the prayers of St. Basil, whom you diligently served on earth, help you.

Ordeal 16th During this conversation, we came to the ordeal, called prodigal, where a person is tortured for any fornication and for all impure passionate thoughts, for consent to sin, for bad touches and passionate touches. The prince of this ordeal sat on the throne, dressed in stinking, nasty clothes, sprinkled with bloody foam and replacing the royal scarlet; many demons stood before him. When they saw me, they were surprised that I had reached their ordeal, and they took out the scrolls in which my fornication deeds were recorded, began to recount them, indicating the persons with whom I sinned in my youth, and the time when I sinned, i.e. day or night, and the places where she committed sin. I could not answer them and stood trembling with shame and fear. The holy angels who led me began to say to the demons: “She left her prodigal life a long time ago and spent all this time in purity and abstinence.” The demons answered: “And we know that she stopped leading a prodigal life, but she didn’t open up to her spiritual father and didn’t carry a penance from him to make amends for her previous sins - therefore she is ours, and you either leave or redeem her with good deeds” . The holy angels pointed to many of my good deeds, and even more, the good deeds of the Monk Basil covered my sins, and I barely got rid of the fierce misfortune. We went further. Ordeal 17th The next ordeal was the ordeal of adultery, where the sins of those living in marriage are tortured: if someone has not preserved marital fidelity, has defiled his bed, he must give an account here. Those who are sinful in kidnapping for fornication, in violence are also tortured here. Here they also test persons who have dedicated themselves to God and made a vow of chastity, but who did not keep their vow and fell into fornication; the torture of these is especially formidable. At this ordeal, I turned out to be a lot of sinners, they convicted me of adultery, and the evil spirits already wanted to steal me from the hands of the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell. But the holy angels argued a lot with them and barely redeemed me, leaving all my good deeds here to the last and adding quite a lot from the treasury of St. Basil. And taking me from them, we went on. The 18th ordeal After this, we reached the ordeal of Sodom, where sins are tortured that do not agree with either male or female nature, as well as copulation with demons and dumb animals, and incest, and other secret sins of this kind, which are ashamed to even remember. The prince of this ordeal, the most vile of all the demons that surrounded him, was all covered with stinking pus; its ugliness is hard to describe. They all burned with rage; hurriedly ran out to meet us and surrounded us. But, by the grace of God, they did not find me in anything sinful, and therefore they fled back in shame; we, rejoicing, came out of this ordeal. After that, the holy angels said to me: “You saw, Theodora, terrible and nasty ordeals of fornication. Know that a rare soul passes by them without delay, because the whole world lies in the evil of temptations and filth, and all people are voluptuous and prone to fornication. A person already from early youth is disposed to these deeds, and it is unlikely that he will keep himself from impurity; those who mortify their carnal lusts a little and therefore freely pass through these ordeals; the majority here perishes; fierce torturers steal the souls of fornicators and, terribly torturing them, take them to hell. You, Theodora, thank God that through the prayers of St. Basil you have passed these prodigal ordeals, and you will no longer encounter delays.

The Monk Theodora lived in Constantinople in the first half of the 10th century. She was married, but widowed and led a pious life, serving the poor and wanderers, then she became a monk and lived under the guidance of St. Basil the New (Comm. 26 March). She died at an advanced age. The disciple of Saint Basil, Gregory, with a prayer began to ask the elder to reveal to him the afterlife of the holy old woman Theodora. And for the sake of his persistent requests, through the prayer of the elder, a wonderful vision was revealed to Gregory in a dream: he found himself in a holy, beautiful garden, where he met Theodora and could ask her about how she parted from her body and how she came to this holy monastery. The nun answered: “How can I, dear child Gregory, tell you everything? After what I experienced in fear and trembling, I forgot a lot, especially since I saw such faces and heard such voices that I had never seen or heard in my entire life. What I can say is that I would have met a fierce death for my wrong deeds committed on earth, if not for the prayers of our father Vasily. His prayers alone made my death easy.” After this, the Monk Theodora told how many evil spirits that suddenly appeared at her death frightened her. They brought large books in which the sins of her whole life were written, and they looked over them impatiently, as if they were expecting the arrival of some judge from minute to minute. Seeing this, she was in such awe and horror that she was completely exhausted, and, looking around in suffering, she wanted to see someone who could drive away the demons. Being in such a painful state, the reverend saw two angels standing next to her, the evil spirits immediately moved away. “Why do you, the gloomy enemies of the human race, confuse and torment the soul of a dying woman? Do not rejoice, there is nothing of yours here,” said one angel. Then the shameless spirits began to remember everything that the saint had done from her youth, whether by word, deed or thought. At the same time, they added a lot of themselves, trying to slander the reverend. Finally, death came, she poured something into a bowl and brought the saint to drink, and then, taking a knife, cut off her head. “Ah, my child,” continued the story of the Monk Theodora, “how bitter, bitter I felt then! At that moment, death plucked out my soul, which quickly separated from the body, just as a bird quickly jumps off the hand of a catcher if he sets it free. The luminous angels accepted the soul of the saint and began to depart with her to Heaven, while the body of the saint remained lying on the ground, like discarded clothes. When the holy angels held the soul of the saint, the evil spirits, having approached again, said: “We have many of her sins, answer us for them.” And then the angels began to remember all the good deeds that the saint had done: her mercy, peacefulness, love for the temple of God, patience, humility, fasting, and many other feats that the reverend suffered in life. Then the Monk Elder Basil also appeared and began to speak to the angels: “My patrons, this soul has served me a lot, calming my weakness and old age. I prayed to the Lord for her, and He granted me this blessing. At the same time, St. Basil gave the angels some kind of ark, adding: “When you want to pass the ordeals of the air, redeem her by taking from this ark and giving it to the crafty and evil spirits.” The angels took the Monk Theodora and went up to Heaven, ascending, as it were, through the air. And on the way, the first ordeal, which is called the ordeal of idle talk and foul language, suddenly met. The torturers demanded an answer to everything that the Monk Theodora had ever spoken badly, they accused her of indecent laughter, ridicule, bad songs. All this the saint forgot, for much time had passed since she began to lead a life pleasing to God. But the angels protected her.

Above was the ordeal of Lies. The evil spirits that were there were very vile, disgusting and ferocious. They furiously began to slander the saint, but the angels gave them from the ark and passed them by. When the reverend reached the third ordeal - Condemnation and Slander, an older one came out of the evil spirits and began to tell with what bad words the reverend slandered someone in her life. He showed much that was false, but it was surprising with what detail and accuracy the demons remembered what the reverend herself forgot.

The servants of the fourth ordeal - Obsession and Drunkenness, like predatory wolves, were ready to devour the saint, remembering how she ate in the morning without praying to God, ate before lunch and dinner and without measure, broke fasts. Trying to snatch Theodora’s soul from the hands of the angels, one of the evil spirits said: “Didn’t you promise at holy baptism to your Lord God to renounce Satan and all his works and everything that belongs to Satan? Having made such a vow, how could you do what you did?” And the demons even counted all the cups of wine that the Monk Theodora drank throughout her life. When she said: “Yes, it was, and I remember it,” the angels again gave a piece from the ark of St. Basil, as they did at every ordeal, and went on.

“Do the people on earth know what awaits them here and what they will meet after their death?” asked the Monk Theodora of the angels. “Yes, they know,” answered the angel, “but the pleasures and delights of life affect them so strongly, absorb their attention so much that they involuntarily forget what awaits them beyond the grave. Good for those who remember the Holy Scriptures and do alms or do any other good deeds that can subsequently redeem them from the eternal torments of hell. But woe to those who live carelessly, as if immortal, thinking only of the blessings of the womb and pride. If death suddenly befalls them, it will completely destroy them, since they will not have any good deeds in defense of themselves; the souls of those people, the dark princes of these ordeals, having severely tormented them, will take them to the dark places of hell and will keep them until the coming of Christ. So you, Theodora, would have suffered if you had not received from the saint of God Basil the gifts that saved you here from all evil. In such a conversation, they reached the fifth ordeal - Sloth, where sinners are tortured for all the days and hours spent in idleness. Parasites who are too lazy to go to the temple of God on holidays are immediately detained. In the same place, the despondency and neglect of both worldly and spiritual people are tested, and the negligence of each about his soul is examined. Many from there fall into the abyss. The angels made up for the shortcomings of the venerable one with the gifts of St. Basil and went on.

The sixth ordeal - Theft - they passed freely. Also, the seventh ordeal - the love of money and avarice - the angels passed without delay, because, by the grace of God, the nun was always content with what God gave, and diligently distributed what was available to those in need.

The spirits of the eighth ordeal - Likoism, tormenting bribery and flattery, gnashed their teeth in anger when the angels passed from them, for they had nothing against the reverend.

The ninth ordeal - Untruth and Vanity, the tenth - Envy, and the eleventh - Pride - the angels passed freely.

Soon the twelfth ordeal was met on the way - Wrath. The oldest of the spirits, full of anger and pride, ordered the servants to torment and torture the reverend. The demons repeated all the true words of the reverend, spoken by her in anger, they even remembered how she looked at her children with anger or severely punished them. To all this the angels answered by giving from the ark.

Like robbers, the evil spirits of the thirteenth ordeal - rancor jumped up, but, finding nothing in their records, wept bitterly. Then the reverend dared to ask one of the angels how the evil spirits know who and what has done evil in life. The angel answered: “At holy baptism, every Christian receives a guardian angel who invisibly protects him from everything bad and instructs him in everything good, who records all the good deeds done by this person. On the other hand, an evil angel watches over the evil deeds of people throughout his life and writes them down in his book. He writes down all the sins in which, as you saw, people are tested when they go through ordeals and go to Heaven. These sins can prevent the soul from entering paradise and lead directly to the abyss in which evil spirits themselves live. And there these souls will live until the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, if they do not have good deeds behind them that could snatch them out of the hands of the devil. People who believe in the Holy Trinity, partaking of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ the Savior as often as possible, directly ascend to Heaven without any obstacles. And the holy angels of God are protectors, and the holy saints of God pray for the salvation of the souls of people who lived righteously. No one cares about the wicked and evil heretics who do nothing useful in their lives, and the angels cannot say anything in their defense.

In the fourteenth ordeal - Robbery, which the angels reached, everyone was tested who pushed someone with anger, beat on the cheeks or with some kind of tool. And the angels passed this ordeal freely. Suddenly they found themselves in the fifteenth ordeal - Sorcery, charm (witchcraft), poisoning, invoking demons. There were serpentine spirits here, the purpose of whose existence is to lead people into temptation and debauchery. By the grace of Christ, the saint soon passed through this ordeal. After that, she asked if for every sin that a person commits in life, he is tortured in ordeals, or is it possible to make amends for the sin even during his lifetime in order to be cleansed of it and not suffer during the ordeals. The angels answered the Monk Theodora that not everyone is tested in such detail at ordeals, but only those who, like her, did not confess frankly before death. “If I confessed to my spiritual father without any shame and fear all sinful things and received forgiveness,” said the Monk Theodora, “then I would pass all these ordeals without hindrance and I would not have to be tortured in any sin. But as I did not want to sincerely confess my sins to the father, here they torture me for this. Of course, it helped me a lot that throughout my life I tried and wanted to avoid sin. Those who diligently strive for repentance always receive forgiveness from God, and through this, a free transition from this life to a blissful afterlife. The evil spirits, who are in ordeals along with their writings, having opened them, find nothing written, for the Holy Spirit makes everything written invisible. And they see this and know that everything written by them has been blotted out thanks to confession, and then they grieve very much. If a person is still living, then they try to write in this place again some other sins. Truly great is the salvation of man in confession! She saves him from many troubles and misfortunes, gives him the opportunity to go through all the ordeals without hindrance and come closer to God. Others do not confess, hoping that there will be time for both salvation and the remission of sins. Others are simply ashamed at confession to express their sins to their confessor - such and such people will be severely tested in ordeals. There are also those who are ashamed to tell one spiritual father everything, but elect several and reveal some sins to one, others to another, and so on. For such a confession, they will be punished and will suffer a lot in the transition from ordeal to ordeal.”

Imperceptibly approached the sixteenth ordeal - Fornication. The torturers were amazed that the saint reached them without hindrance, and when they began to say what she had done in life, they gave many false testimonies, citing names and places to confirm. So did the servants of the seventeenth ordeal - Adultery.

The eighteenth ordeal is Sodom, where all unnatural fornication sins and incest are tortured, all the most vile, secretly committed deeds, about which, according to the word of the apostle, it is shameful even to speak, the Monk Theodora passed quickly. When they rose higher, the angels said to her: “You saw the terrible and disgusting ordeals of fornication. Know that a rare soul passes them freely. The whole world is immersed in the evil of temptations and filth, almost all people are voluptuous, the thought of the human heart is evil from his youth (Genesis 8:21). There are few who mortify carnal lusts and few who freely pass by these ordeals. Most of them, having reached here, perish. The authorities of prodigal ordeals boast that they alone, more than all other ordeals, fill the fiery kinship in hell. Thank God, Theodora, that you have passed through these prodigal torturers with the prayers of your father. You won't see fear anymore."

At the nineteenth ordeal—Idolatry and all kinds of heresy—the reverend was not tested in anything. In the last, twentieth ordeal - Unmercy and Hardness of Heart - all the unmerciful, cruel, harsh and hating were recorded. The soul of a person who has not followed the commandment of God about mercy is thrown from here into hell and shut up until the general resurrection. Like annoying bees, the servants of the cruel demon flew up, but, not finding anything in the reverend, they departed. Joyful angels led the saint through the heavenly gates. When they entered into Heaven, the water that was above the earth parted, and behind it reunited. A jubilant host of angels met the saint and led her to the Throne of God. As they walked, two Divine clouds descended on them. At an inexplicable height stood the Throne of God, so white that it illuminated all who stood before it. “Everything there is such that it is impossible to understand or explain; the mind is clouded by bewilderment, and memory disappears, and I have forgotten where I am,” said St. Theodora. She bowed to the Invisible God and heard a voice commanding her to show her all the souls of the righteous and sinners and then give her peace.

After the story, Theodora led Gregory through the Heavenly monastery, led him into the palace, into the garden, where he, amazed by the blessings, wanted to learn more about them, but the reverend only said that all this is unearthly and goes to the one who endures many sorrows and misfortunes in earthly life. who guards the commandments of the Lord and fulfills them exactly. So, bowing to the saint, Gregory returned home and at that time woke up and began to reflect on what he had seen. Fearing that this was not a demonic delusion, he hurried to the teacher, the Monk Basil, but he, having warned him, himself told everything that Gregory had seen and asked him to write down what he saw and heard for the benefit of his neighbors. We think that every penitent Christian will find great benefit for himself in this story, think with fear about what awaits him after his repose, and wish, while there is time, to soberly reassess his life, his actions, words, thoughts, rather confess everything sinful without concealment, rejecting indecision.

Blessed Theodora's story about ordeals

Leading to Gregory, a disciple of the Monk Basil the New.

Rev. Basil was a novice of Theodore, who served him a lot; having accepted the monastic rank, she departed to the Lord. One of the disciples of the monk, Gregory, had a desire to find out where Theodora was after her repose, whether she had been vouchsafed from the Lord mercy and joy for her service to the holy elder. Often thinking about this, Gregory asked the elder to answer him what happened to Theodora, for he firmly believed that the saint of God knew all this. Not wanting to upset his spiritual son, St. Basil prayed that the Lord would reveal to him the fate of the blessed Theodora. And so Gregory saw her in a dream - in a bright monastery, full of heavenly glory and inexpressible blessings, which was prepared by God for St. Basil, and in which Theodora was installed through his prayers. Seeing her, Gregory was delighted and asked her how her soul was separated from her body, what she saw at her death, how she passed through the air trials. To these questions Theodora answered him thus:

“Child Gregory, you asked about a terrible thing, it’s terrible to remember it. I saw faces that I had never seen, and heard words that I had never heard. What can I tell you? Terrible and terrible I had to see and hear for my deeds, but with the help and prayers of our father, the Monk Basil, everything was easy for me. the last hour destroys a man. Truly terrible is the death of sinners like me! So, when the hour came for the separation of my soul from the body, I saw around my bed a lot of Ethiopians, black as soot or pitch, with eyes burning like coals. They raised a noise and shout: alone they roared like beasts and beasts, others barked like dogs, some howled like wolves, and some grunted like pigs, all of them, looking at me, raged, threatened, gnashed their teeth, as if they wanted to eat me, they prepared charters in which x all my bad deeds were recorded. Then my poor soul trembled; it was as if the torment of death did not exist for me: the terrible vision of the terrible Ethiopians was for me another, more terrible death. I turned away my eyes so as not to see their terrible faces, but they were everywhere and their voices were carried from everywhere. When I was completely exhausted, I saw two Angels of God approaching me in the form of beautiful youths; their faces were bright, their eyes looked with love, the hair on their heads was white as snow and shone like gold; the clothes were like the light of lightning, and on the chest they were cross-girded with golden belts. Approaching my bed, they stood beside me on the right side, talking quietly to each other. When I saw them, I rejoiced; the black Ethiopians trembled and moved away; one of the bright young men addressed them with the following words: “O shameless, accursed, gloomy and evil enemies of the human race! rejoice very much, here you will not find anything, for God is merciful to her and you have no part and share in this soul. After listening to this, the Ethiopians rushed about, raising a strong cry and saying: “How can we not have a part in this soul? and this?" And having said this, they stood and waited for my death. Finally, death itself came, roaring like a lion and very terrible in appearance; she looked like a man, only she had no body and was made up of bare human bones only. With her were various tools for torment: swords, spears, arrows, scythes, saws, axes and other tools unknown to me. My poor soul trembled when it saw this. The holy angels said to death: why are you delaying, free this soul from the body, free it quietly and soon, because there are no many sins behind it. In obedience to this order, death approached me, took a small cord and first of all cut off my legs, then my arms, then gradually cut off my other members with other tools, separating composition from composition, and my whole body became dead. Then, taking an adze, she cut off my head, and it became as if a stranger to me, for I could not turn it around. After that, death made some kind of drink in the cup and, bringing it to my lips, forced me to drink. This drink was so bitter that my soul could not endure it - it shuddered and jumped out of the body, as if forcibly torn out of it. Then the bright Angels took her into their arms. I turned back and saw my body lying soulless, insensible and motionless, just as if someone takes off his clothes and, throwing them away, looks at her - so I looked at my body, from which I had freed myself, and was very surprised at this. The demons, who were in the form of Ethiopians, surrounded the holy angels holding me and shouted, showing my sins: "This soul has many sins, let it give us an answer for them!" But the holy angels began to look for my good deeds and, by the grace of God, they found and collected everything that with the help of the Lord was good done by me: whether I ever gave alms, or fed the hungry, or gave the thirsty to drink, or clothed the naked, or led the stranger into her house and calmed him, or served the saints, or visited the sick and those in prison and helped him, or when she went to church with zeal and prayed with tenderness and tears, or when she listened with attention to church reading and singing, or brought incense to church and candles, or made some other kind of offering, or poured wooden oil into the lamps in front of the holy icons and kissed them with reverence, or when fasting and during all holy fasts on Wednesday and Friday did not eat food, or how many bows did she make and prayed at night, or when she turned to God with all her soul and wept over her sins, or when, with full heartfelt repentance, she confessed her sins to God before her spiritual father and tried to bury them to do good deeds, or when she did some good for her neighbor, or when she was not angry with someone who was at enmity with me, or when she suffered some insult and scolding and did not remember them and was not angry for them, or when she repaid good for evil, or when she humbled herself or lamented about someone else's misfortune, or she herself was sick and meekly endured, or took ill with other sick people, and comforted the crying, or gave someone a helping hand, or helped in a good deed, or kept someone from a bad one, or when she did not pay attention to vain deeds, or kept from vain swearing or slander and idle talk, and all my other smallest deeds were collected by holy angels, preparing to lay against my sins. The Ethiopians, seeing this, gnashed their teeth, because they wanted to kidnap me from the Angels and take me to the bottom of hell. At this time, our reverend father Basil unexpectedly appeared there and said to the holy angels: “My Lord, this soul served me a lot, calming my old age, and I prayed to God, and He gave it to me.” Having said this, he took out a golden bag from his bosom, all full, as I thought, of pure gold, and gave it to the holy angels, saying: “When you go through air ordeals and evil spirits begin torturing this soul, redeem her with this from her debts. I am rich by the grace of God, because I have collected many treasures for myself by my labors, and I give this bag to the soul that served me. Having said this, he disappeared. The crafty demons, seeing this, were perplexed and, raising lamentable cries, also disappeared. Then the saint of God, Basil, came again and brought many vessels with pure oil, dear ointment, and, opening each vessel one by one, poured everything on me, and a fragrance spilled from me. Then I realized that I had changed and became especially bright. The saint again turned to the angels with the following words: "My Lord, when you have done everything that is necessary for this soul, take it to the house prepared for me by the Lord God and settle it there." Having said this, he became invisible, and the holy angels took me, and we went through the air to the east, rising to the sky.

There comes a time when all people begin to think about death, what awaits them beyond the last line. Christians know that the end of the earthly path is only the beginning of eternal life. But they are also afraid of this unknown other world, which promises some happiness and bliss of the Kingdom of Heaven, and others - eternal hellish torment. About what awaits the soul after death and how to prepare for this moment is described in the book "The Ordeal of Blessed Theodora."

About the book

The book "The Ordeals of Blessed Theodora" was written on the basis of the life of the holy Monk Basil the New, who lived in Constantinople in the 10th century. His detailed life was compiled in the 18th century. Russian Saint Dmitry of Rostov. It is part of the four-volume work "Cheti-Minei", the source of which was the most ancient hagiographic texts.

The book "The Ordeal of Blessed Theodora"

It is possible that the Russian author got acquainted with the text of the first life of Basil of Constantinople, compiled by his student Gregory. Modern books published under this title are collections that consist of the following parts:

• the teaching of the church about ordeals;
• the ordeal of blessed Theodora;
• testimonies of contemporaries who have gone through ordeals.

Reading these small editions helps Christians to find out what awaits them after death, to think about the inevitable end of earthly existence and to prepare for confession.

History of Blessed Theodora

Saint Theodora lived in the Byzantine capital in the 10th century. Ordinary Christians often confuse her with another holy woman bearing the same name. She lived at the end of the ninth century. Being the ruler of Byzantium with her young son, she restored icon veneration, for which she was glorified by the Christian Church. Blessed Theodora lived her earthly life modestly, but a posthumous gift is priceless for Christians.

life

Theodora was born in Constantinople. She married, but the marriage was childless. After the death of her husband, she took monastic vows and became a novice of Basil of Constantinople. The woman led a quiet pious life, filled with help to needy and sick people. She warmly received the travelers, admonishing them with a kind word. She died as an old woman in her cell in 940, having spent most of her life next to her spiritual father Basil.

Posthumous miracle

The veneration of Blessed Theodora is based on a posthumous miracle - her appearance to the disciple of St. Basil. Gregory, who knew the pious old woman Theodora, wanted to know where her soul ended up, having left the earthly world.

Icon of St. Theodora of Constantinople

He asked his teacher in prayer to the Lord to ask him to open the posthumous fate of the nun. The Lord answered the prayer, and after some time in a dream the young man saw a woman who was in bright chambers.

Theodora's story

The bright soul succumbed to the persuasion of George and told her way to the Kingdom of God.

death hour

While on her deathbed, she saw that she was surrounded by demons, similar to people with black skin, who were screaming and preparing to take her away. The woman was frightened and tried to turn away from them. At that moment, two angels appeared, shining with bright light.

At the sight of them, the demons retreated, but continued to scream about Theodora's sins. The sides of light and darkness fought for the soul of a Christian, presenting her bad and good deeds. Their dispute was interrupted by Death, who came to free the soul from the mortal body. The old woman again felt strong fear, but after a while she looked at herself from the side, like at clothes.

Interesting! She was supported by the angels who came for her, and the demons continued to demand to give them back. At that moment, Saint Basil appeared and handed the angels a bag filled with treasures that he had earned through hard spiritual work. Seeing the reverend husband, the demons hid.

And the spiritual father washed Theodora's soul with peace and oil, which transformed and cleansed her. He asked the angels, after passing all the tests prepared for the soul, to take it to the monastery prepared for him by the Heavenly Father. After these words, Saint Basil disappeared.

Air trials

The angels picked up the bright soul and carried it through the heavenly world to the east. On this path, air spirits were already waiting for them, in whose hands were scrolls describing the sins committed by Theodora during her lifetime. In total, 20 publicans stand on this path, accusing the soul of the following sins:

Journey to heaven and hell

Having passed all the tests, the angels brought Theodora to the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven. Here they were met by young angels who rejoiced at the successful deliverance of a woman from ordeals. Companions conducted the soul of the nun to the Throne of the Lord, surrounded by angels and heavenly warriors. Hearing the voice of God, she fell to her knees. The Lord commanded the angels to show her heaven and hell, and then lead her to the monastery prepared for her spiritual father.

Icon of the Ordeal of Blessed Theodora

Traveling with angels through paradise, the holy wife saw beautiful villages and monasteries prepared for true Christians striving for union with the Lord. Joyful and happy souls lived in them, sincerely rejoicing at Theodora's deliverance from trials.

After that, the companions descended with her into hell, where they showed her sinners who were in torment and suffering. After that, they escorted her to the monastery of St. Basil, where they told her that at that moment the spiritual father was creating a memory for her.

In the morning, after listening to the old woman's story, Gregory went to his teacher and from his words realized that everything he saw was true.

Interesting: the story of Blessed Theodora is one of the foundations of the Orthodox teaching about the afterlife and the need for prayerful help to the dead from their loved ones. The treasures in the bag are the prayers and kind words about Theodore of her spiritual father.

idea and essence

Reading the story of Theodora's ordeals is an occasion to think about the hour of death, which sooner or later awaits any person. It is designed to encourage a person not to delay the recognition of their sins and repentance for them. Describing in detail the path to the Kingdom of Heaven, the author recalls that after death a Christian can no longer fix anything.

Therefore, during his lifetime, he must take care of facilitating his afterlife path. For this, it is necessary to do good deeds and admit all your sins, even those that were admitted in your thoughts. Priests recommend building their confessions on the basis of ordeals, honestly recognizing all ungodly deeds and thoughts.

This story also points out the importance of prayerful assistance to a deceased person, which should be provided by relatives, friends and just acquaintances who have remained on earth. Special dates are 3, 9, 20 and 40 days after the death of a Christian. It is on these days that important events take place in the afterlife.

Orthodox teaching about ordeals

The attitude towards the "Tribals of Blessed Theodora" in the Orthodox Church is rather ambiguous. Some clergy and specialists in the field of Orthodoxy say that ordeals mislead people. There is no room for God's Judgment in this narrative.

The Orthodox Church is ambivalent about the ordeals

At the same time, it is noted that they were written under the influence of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, which tells about the ability of a person to independently change his fate after death, having paid off demons.

Other Orthodox priests speak of the orthodoxy of the doctrine of ordeals. In their justifications, they refer to the following theologians:

• Theophan the Recluse;
• John Chrysostom;
• Ephraim the Sirin;
• Macarius the Great.

Proponents of the doctrine of ordeals say that ordeals are an integral part of the Divine Judgment. During ordeals there is no redemption of sins. Ordeals expose human passions and sins, helping him to realize himself with the help of spiritual forces that accumulate in the process of earthly life and are multiplied by the prayers of loved ones.

The Fathers of the Church say that not all people go through the path of ordeals. Gentiles and unbaptized people immediately after death find themselves in the hands of demons. Pure souls, on the other hand, having achieved unity with the Lord during their lifetime, bypass the stages of trials and ascend to the Throne of the Lord.

Modern people often forget that it is necessary to prepare for the entrance to the afterlife long before the hour of death. "The Ordeals of Blessed Theodora" are designed to remind a person of the need to do good deeds and pious deeds. Having committed a sin, a Christian must acknowledge this deed and repent of it. This will help to avoid such actions in the future life and cross them out of the demonic scrolls of ordeals.

Ordeals of St. Theodora