Whom do they see before death - Angels or demons?
At the time of the death of the deceased, as a rule, two Angels meet. This is how the author of “Incredible for Many …” described them: “And as soon as she (the old nurse) uttered these words (“The Kingdom of Heaven, eternal rest …”), two Angels appeared near me, in one of which I for some reason- then he recognized my Guardian Angel, and the other was unknown to me.”Later, one pious wanderer explained to him that this was“the counter Angel.”St. Theodore, whose path after death through airy ordeals is described in the life of St. Basil the New (X century, March 26), says:
“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 girdled crosswise with golden belts. Gallic bishop VI century, St. Salvius described his experience of death this way: “When my cell shook four days ago and you saw me lying dead, I was lifted up by two Angels and carried to the very top of heaven” (St. Gregory of Tours. History of the Franks. VII, 1).
The duty of these Angels is to accompany the soul of the deceased on his way to the afterlife. There is nothing indefinite neither in their form, nor in their actions - having a human appearance, they firmly grasp the "subtle body" of the soul and take it away. “The Bright Angels took her (soul) into their arms” (St. Theodore). “Taking me by the arms, the Angels carried me right through the wall from the chamber …” (“Incredible for many …”). St. Salvius was "raised by two Angels." Examples of this kind could be continued.
Therefore, it cannot be argued that the "luminous creature" from modern cases, which does not have a visible form, does not accompany the soul anywhere, which draws the soul into a conversation and shows it "back frames" of its past life, there is an Angel who accompanies into the afterlife. Not every being that appears as an Angel is actually an Angel, because Satan himself takes on the form of an Angel of Light (2 Cor. 11, 14). And therefore, about creatures that do not even have the appearance of an Angel, we can say with confidence that they are not Angels. For the reason that we will try to explain below, in modern "posthumous" experiments, apparently, there are never undoubted meetings with Angels.
Then could it not be that in reality the "luminous being" was a demon masquerading as an Angel of light in order to tempt the dying person when his soul leaves his body? Dr. Raymond Moody (Life After Life, pp. 107-108, Reflections, pp. 58-60) and other researchers do raise such a question, but only to reject such a possibility in connection with the “good The action that this phenomenon produces on the dying. Of course, the views of these researchers on evil are naive to the limit. Dr. Moody believes that “Satan seems to be telling the servants to follow the path of hatred and destruction” (Life After Life, p. 108) and seems to be completely unfamiliar with Christian literature describing the true nature of demonic temptations. which are invariably presented to their victims as something “good”.
What is the Orthodox teaching on demonic temptations at the hour of death? St. Basil the Great in his interpretation of the words of the psalm: save me from all my persecutors and deliver me; may he not, like a lion, pluck out my soul (Ps. 7: 2-3), gave the following explanation: “I think about the courageous ascetics of God, who throughout their lives have rather fought with invisible enemies when they have escaped all their persecution, being at the end of his life, the prince of this age is trying to keep them with him if there are wounds on them received during the struggle, or some stains and imprints of sin. And if they are found invulnerable and spotless, then as invincible, as free, they will be resting in Christ. Therefore, the Prophet prays for future and present life. Here he says: save me from those who persecute, and there, during the trial, deliver me, but not when a lion takes my soul away. And this you can learn from the Lord Himself, Who before suffering says: The prince of this world is coming, and in Me he has nothing (John 14:30)”(vol. 1, p. 104).
Indeed, not only Christian ascetics have to face the demonic test at their hour of death. St. John Chrysostom in "Conversations on the Evangelist Matthew" figuratively describes what happens to ordinary sinners at the time of death: "Therefore, you will hear a lot of stories about horrors at the last end and terrible phenomena, which the very sight is intolerable for the dying, so that lying on a bed with with great power they shake it and look terribly at those who are coming, while the soul is trying to stay in the body and does not want to be separated from it, horrified by the vision of the approaching Angels. For if we, looking at the terrible people, tremble, then what will be our torment, how will we see the approaching Angels formidable and inexorable forces, when they draw our soul and tear it away from the body, when she weeps a lot, but vain and useless "(Conversation 53, vol. 3, pp. 414-415).
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In the Orthodox lives of the saints, there are many stories about such demonic spectacles at the moments of death, the purpose of which is usually to intimidate the dying person and make him despair of his own salvation. For example, St. Gregory in his “Interviews” told about one rich man who was a slave of many passions: “Shortly before his death he saw vile spirits standing in front of him, ferociously threatening to take him to the depths of hell … The whole family gathered around him, crying and groaning. Although they could not, according to the patient himself, by the pallor of his face and the trembling of his body, understand that there were evil spirits. In mortal fear of these terrible visions, he rushed from side to side on the bed … And now almost exhausted and desperate in some kind of relief, he cried:
“Give me time until morning! Be patient until the morning! " And on this his life was interrupted”(IV, 40). St. Gregory speaks of other similar cases, and also Bede in his "History of the English Church and the People" (book V, chap. 13, 15). Even in nineteenth-century America, such cases were not uncommon; The recently published anthology contains stories from the last century with headlines such as "I'm on fire, get me out!", "Oh, save me, they're taking me away!", "I'm going to hell!" and “The devil is coming to drag my soul to hell” (John Myers. Voices at the Edge of Eternity. 1973, pp. 71, 109, 167, 196).
But Dr. Moody says nothing of the kind: in fact, in his book, all the experiences of the dying (with the noteworthy exception of suicide, see pp. 127-128) are pleasant - be they Christians or non-Christians, religious people or not. On the other hand, Dr. Osis and Haraldson found something not so far removed from this experience in their research.
These scientists found in their studies of American cases what Dr. Moody did: the phenomenon of otherworldly visitors is perceived as something positive, the patient accepts death, the experience is pleasant, it causes calm and elation, and often - the cessation of pain before death. In studies of Indian cases, at least one third of patients who saw the phenomena experienced fear, oppression and anxiety as a result of the appearance of "Yamduts" ("messengers of death", Hindi) or other beings; these Indians resist or try to avoid otherworldly messengers. So, in one case, a dying Indian clerk says:
“Someone is standing here! His cart is probably yamdut. He must be taking someone with him. He teases me that he wants to take me! … Please, hold me, I do not want! " His pains increased, and he died (“At the hour of death,” p. 90). One dying Indian suddenly said: “Here comes the yamdut to take me. Get me out of bed so that yamdut won't find me. " He pointed out and up: "Here he is." The hospital room was on the first floor. Outside, against the wall of the building, there was a large tree with many crows perched on its branches. As soon as the patient had this vision, all the crows suddenly left the tree with a great noise, as if someone had fired a gun. We were surprised by this and ran through the open door of the room, but saw nothing to disturb the crows. Usually they were very calm, because all of us present,I remember very much that the crows flew away with a great noise just when the dying man had a vision. As if they also felt something terrible. When this happened, the patient lost consciousness and died a few minutes later. Some yamduts have a terrible appearance and cause even greater fear in the dying person.
This is the biggest difference between the American and Indian experiences of dying in the studies of Dr. Osis and Haraldson, but the authors cannot find an explanation. Naturally, the question arises: why is one element almost completely absent from modern American experience - fear caused by the terrible otherworldly phenomena so common to both the Christian experience of the past and the present Indian experience?
We do not need to pinpoint the nature of the phenomena to the dying in order to understand that, as we have seen, they depend to some extent on what the dying person expects or is ready to see. Therefore, Christians of past centuries, who had a living faith in hell and whose conscience at the end of their lives blamed them, often saw demons before death … Modern Hindus, who, of course, are more “primitive” than Americans, in their beliefs and their understanding, often see creatures that match their still very real fears about the afterlife. And today's "enlightened" Americans see things that are consistent with their "comfortable" lives and beliefs, which, in general, do not include a real fear of hell or confidence in the existence of demons.
Indeed, the demons themselves offer temptations that are consistent with the spiritual consciousness or expectations of the tempted. For those who fear hell, demons can appear in a terrifying form, so that a person dies in a state of despair. But for those who do not believe in hell (or Protestants who believe that they are reliably saved, and therefore do not fear hell), demons would naturally offer some other temptations that would not reveal their evil intentions so clearly. In a similar way, to a Christian ascetic who has suffered enough, demons can appear in such a form in order to seduce him, and not frighten him.
A good example of this is the temptation by demons at the hour of the death of the martyr Maura (3rd century). After she was crucified on the cross for nine days with her husband, the martyr Timothy, the devil tempted her. The lives of these saints say how the martyr Mavra herself told her husband and partner in suffering about her temptations: “Take courage, my brother, and drive away sleep from you; watch and understand what I saw: it seemed to me that before me, as if in admiration, there was a man who had in his hand a cup filled with milk and honey. This man said to me: "Take this, drink it." But I said to him: "Who are you?" He answered: “I am the Angel of God.” Then I told him: “Let us pray to the Lord.” Then he said to me: “I have come to you in order to ease your suffering. I saw that you were very hungry and thirstysince until now you have not eaten any food. "Again I said to him:" Who prompted you to show me this mercy? And what do you care about my patience and forgiveness? Do you not know that God is powerful to create and that which is impossible people? " When I prayed, I saw that the man turned his face to the west. From this I understood that it was a satanic deception; Satan wanted to tempt us on the cross. Then soon the vision disappeared. Then another man came up, and it seemed to me that he led me to a river flowing with milk and honey, and said to me: “Drink.” But I answered: “I have already told you that I will not drink any water or any other earthly drinking until I drink the cup of death for Christ, my Lord, which He Himself will dissolve for me with the salvation and immortality of eternal life. " When I said thisthat man drank from the river, and suddenly he himself and the river with him disappeared "(" The Life of the Holy Martyrs Timothy and Mavra "). It is clear how careful a Christian must be in receiving “revelations” at the time of death.
So, the hour of death is truly a time of demonic temptations, and those spiritual experiences that people receive at this time (even if it seems that this happens "after death," which will be discussed below), should be judged by the same Christian the yardsticks of any other spiritual experience. Similarly, the spirits that may meet at this time must be subjected to a comprehensive test, which the Apostle John expresses as follows: test the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets have appeared in the world (1 John 4: 1).
Some of the critics of modern "posthumous" experiments have already pointed to the similarity of the "luminous being" with the "guiding spirits" and "friend spirits" of mediumistic spiritualism. Therefore, let us consider briefly the spiritualistic teaching in that part of it, which speaks of "luminous beings" and their messages. One classic work on Spiritualism (J. Arthur Hill. Spiritualism. His History, Phenomena and Teachings. New York, 1919) indicates that Spiritualism “always or almost always accords with high moral standards; in relation to faith, it is always theistic, always respectful to it, but not too much interested in such intellectual subtleties that interested the Fathers of the Church Councils”(p. 235).
Then the book notes that the "key" and "central doctrine" of spiritualistic teaching is love, that spiritists receive "glorious knowledge" from the spirits, which obliges them to carry out missionary work to spread the "knowledge that life after death really is" and that "perfect" spirits lose the "limitations" of the individual and become more "influences" than individuals, more and more filled with "light". Indeed, in their hymns, the Spiritualists literally call on "luminous beings": "Blessed servants of light, Intimate from mortal eyes … Messengers of light went in the middle of the night, To open our hearts' eyes …".
All of this is enough to doubt the "luminous being", which now appears to people who know nothing about the nature and cunning of demonic tricks. Our suspicion is only increased when we hear from Dr. Moody that some describe the creature as a “funny person” with a “sense of humor” who “entertains” and “amuses” the dying person (Life After Life, p. 49, 51). Such a being, with its "love and understanding", is actually remarkably similar to the trivial and often good-natured spirits in the seances, who, without a doubt, are demons (if the seances themselves are not a scam).
This fact has led some to deny as demonic deception all reports of 'posthumous' experiences, and one book written by evangelical Protestants claims that “there are new and unexplored dangers in all this deception about life and death. Even a vague faith in clinical reports, we are convinced, can have serious consequences for those who believe in the Bible. Many sincere Christians have fully believed that the luminous being is none other than Jesus Christ and, unfortunately, these people can be very easily fooled.”(John Weldon and Zola Levitte, Is There Life After Death? 1977, p. 76). In addition to pointing out the undoubted fact that a number of researchers of "posthumous" experience are also interested in occultism and even have contact with mediums,the authors of the book in support of this claim draw a number of remarkable parallels between modern "posthumous" experience and the experience of mediums and occultists of the recent past.
There is, of course, much truth in these observations. Unfortunately, without a complete Christian teaching on the afterlife, even the most well-meaning “Bible believers” are deluded, rejecting, along with experience that may be demonic deception, the true afterlife experience of the soul. And, as we will see, these people themselves are able to believe the deceptive "posthumous" experience.
Dr. Osis and Haraldson, who both had "direct experience with mediums," note some similarities between the experiences of the dying person and the experience of spiritualism. However, they note a significant, "conspicuous divergence" between them: "Instead of continuing the mundane life (which mediums describe), survivors of clinical death prefer to start a completely new way of life and activity" ("At the hour of death," p. 200). In reality, the kingdom of "posthumous" experience does not seem completely different from the kingdom of ordinary mediumship and spiritualism, but it is still a kingdom where demonic deceptions and suggestions are not only possible, but positively to be expected, especially in those last days in which we live when we witness more and more subtle spiritual temptations, even great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible,and the elect (Matthew 24:24).
Therefore, we should be at least very careful with the "light beings" who seem to appear at the moment of death. They are very much like demons, posing as "Angels of Light" in order to seduce not only the dying person himself, but also those to whom he will later tell his story if he is brought back to life (the possibility of which, of course, the demons are well aware of).
But, ultimately, our judgment about this and other "posthumous" phenomena should be based on the teaching that follows from them - whether it is given by some spiritual being seen at the time of death, or simply implied, or deduced from such phenomena.
Some of the “dead” and those brought back to life - usually those who were or became very religious - identified the “luminous being” they encountered not with the Angel, but with the invisible presence of Christ himself. For these people, such an experience is often associated with another phenomenon, which for Orthodox Christians is perhaps the most mysterious at first glance phenomenon encountered in modern posthumous experiences - the vision of "heaven."
Seraphim Rose