In the last minutes of a person's life, two are most often present - a doctor and a priest. But if the first helps to get rid of physical suffering, then the second relieves mental suffering. That is why priests often witness such events that do not fit into the usual ideas about life and death.
APPEARANCES OF ANGELS AND DEES
Orthodox Christians and Catholics believe: when the soul and body are separated, a person can see both light angels and dark demons. Church theologians have repeatedly written about this: Tikhon Zadonsky, Theodore the Studite, John Climacus, Macarius of Egypt, etc. Here, for example, the revelations of Cyril of Alexandria: hostile, containing in their power the evil world, chiefs of ordeals, air torturers and overseers of our affairs, with them is the original murderer devil, strong in his malice. " Cyril of Alexandria is echoed by Ephraim the Syrian: “Do you not know, my brethren, what fear and what need we are subjected to at the hour of our departure from this life, at the separation of the soul from the body? Great fear, great sacrament is performed there!Good angels and a multitude of heavenly hosts approach the soul, as well as all the resistance forces and princes of darkness; they both want to give to the soul or to assign a place to it."
Angels are extremely rare to man. The probability of meeting an ordinary person with an angel is zero. If a person has sinned a little and he has a chance to avoid heavenly ordeals, then he (his soul) can see angels coming for him at the moment of his death. Demons appear to a person much more often. They can come in any guise: in the form of demons, animals, elves, mermaids, fantastic creatures, as well as classic devils with tails, horns, hooves, pagan gods, princes, kings, etc. In addition, demons can take the guise of relatives - both living and dead, friends, acquaintances, saints, angels, Jesus Christ, the Mother of God who have gone to another world. How to distinguish dark forces from light ones? As the priests assure, if before death a person suffers, suffers greatly, complains of visions that haunt him day or night, thenuninvited guests came from the kingdom of darkness. The only way to calm down the unbelted demons is to call a priest who will read a prayer over the dying, confess and give the Holy Communion.
WAR AND PEACE
In his book "Unholy Saints" Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) told a striking story about the last days of the outstanding actor and director Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk, which were overshadowed not only by the physical suffering of a seriously ill person, but by suffering of a completely different kind. Before Bondarchuk appeared, as in reality, the images of long-dead people, previously familiar from the acting and directing workshop. But they appeared in a terrible, ugly guise and tortured the unfortunate man, did not give him rest, day or night. The doctors tried to help with something, but in vain. Sergei Fedorovich was so exhausted by these nightmares that he tried to find protection from the writer Leo Tolstoy, whom he deeply adored - he ordered to hang his portrait over his bed. At his request, the windows were also closed and the curtains were closed. Any penetration of a ray of light into the room was painful to him. In this state, priest Tikhon found his former teacher (Shevkunov graduated from the screenwriting department of VGIK). Everything in the house seemed to be filled with the suffering of the dying man, even the air itself seemed to press and was poisoned. Father Tikhon knew that Sergei Bondarchuk, like his idol Leo Tolstoy, did not recognize the official church, did not pray, did not attend church and did not believe in religious rites. “I told him about a wonderful, wonderful world, infinitely good and light, where the Savior leads everyone who will trust Him with all their hearts. And that one must prepare for the great event of death and the transition to a new life. As for the frightening visions that harassed the patient so cruelly, here I spoke plainly about the Church's teaching about the influence of fallen spirits on us. A modern person perceives this tough topic with great difficulty, but Sergei Fedorovich, who experienced the reality of the presence of these merciless spiritual beings in our world, listened with great attention. On the eve of death, when a person approaches the edge of our and other worlds, the previously impenetrable spiritual veil between these worlds becomes thinner. And, unexpectedly for himself, a person can begin to see a new reality for him. But the main shock is often the fact that this emerging new reality is unusually aggressive and truly terrible. People who are far from the life of the Church do not understand that because of unrepentant sins and passions, a person becomes available to the influence of spiritual beings, whom in Orthodoxy are called demons. It is they who frighten the dying person, including assuming the appearance of faces that were once familiar to him. Their goal is to lead a person into fright, confusion, horror, into utmost despair. So that the soul passes into another world in a painful state of complete absence of hope for salvation, faith in God and trust in Him."
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Sergei Fyodorovich listened to all these words with great emotion. Father Tikhon understood: he hit the mark. Bondarchuk himself asked him to confess and commune. Then the priest asked permission to open the heavy curtains on the windows, and when the room was flooded with light, and instead of the portrait of Tolstoy, an icon of the Savior appeared before the eyes of the dying man, he began the sacrament. After that, heavy, terrible visions left Sergei Fyodorovich, all the days until his death he prayed and fingered the rosary …
Blessed Paisios Svyatogorets, one of the most respected Greek elders, known for his spiritual teachings and ascetic life, wrote: “Even if people suffer and suffer in the last moments of their lives, this does not necessarily mean that they have many sins. Some people, out of great humility, earnestly ask God to give them a bad end - so that after death they remain in obscurity. Therefore, do not rush to accuse Sergei Bondarchuk of sins and disobedience.
BLACK CROWS
A demon possessed person loses the ability to control his behavior. On his behalf and in his body, the demon acts and speaks, and the possessed is not responsible for the actions performed by the demon, for the words he said. The manifestation of black forces is accompanied by strong fear and horror in a person. Spirits can penetrate the body of their victim, and then a person can do something that does not fit in the head. Sometimes they can completely take possession of his thoughts and desires, and then the unfortunate person is capable of some fatal steps. One lady told: when the family of her mother was dispossessed and taken to the Sinyavinsky swamps, all the things that they could take with them were burnt in some shed. The great-grandfather of this lady could not bear another blow and decided to commit suicide. He retired, took the rope, threw it over the sledge, made a noose, and suddenly something unimaginable happened. Such a huge flock of black ravens flew in, that the sky was not visible. They croaked so shrilly that my great-grandfather was frightened. And the crows circled over that barn where he planned to commit suicide, as if they were expecting his last breath. He felt so terrified that he called on the name of God and read a prayer. Great-grandfather knew the words of this prayer well - he was a believer, but that time all the words were blown out of his head like a wind. But he made an effort over himself and read the prayer to the end and crossed himself. The crows disappeared as if they weren't there. Great-grandfather was sure that black thoughts whispered to him devilish forces, they also flew for his soul. But the man did not take sin on his soul, and no one else in his family thought of such a thing. Hence the rule: never listen to what the demon says, drive him away from yourself with the help of prayer and the sign of the cross,attend church more often and perform religious rituals.
Ksenia VOLKOVA
