Where do souls go and where do they remain after death?

Alexandros Christodoulou, theologian | April 27, 2022

 

After a person's death, the soul that enlivened the body separates from it. According to St. Athanasius, the soul is self-existent and self-moving, meaning that even after its separation from the body, it continues to live and move. The soul does not die, but the body does when the soul departs from it. The soul is the breath of God within us, which is why it is immortal. It is the spiritual creation, whereas the body is the material creation.

As soon as the soul departs from a person's body at the moment of death, it immediately enters a conscious new phase of life, which is connected to its previous life. This is affirmed by scriptural testimonies. The Lord said to the thief who pleaded with Him, "Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your kingdom," that "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." With the word "today," the Lord indicated the immediate continuation of the thief's soul's life, without any interval of either sleep or transition into a state of unconscious existence. At the Transfiguration of the Lord, we see the appearance of the two Prophets, Moses and Elijah. In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the souls continue to live after death under different conditions.

The Apostle Peter states that during His three-day Burial, the Lord descended into Hades and preached to the living souls of the departed pious people. These souls were alive and heard His preaching, and as the Fathers say, those who believed in Christ were saved.

The fact that the soul goes somewhere else and remains there is seen in the accounts of the resurrection of certain dead people. In the Old Testament, when the Prophet Elijah prayed before the lifeless body of the widow of Zidon’s child, his soul returned to the body, and he was brought back to life. Therefore, the soul, which was elsewhere, heard the Prophet and returned to the dead body.

But where do the souls go during the interval between death and the Second Coming of the Lord?

We must know that the answer to this question, as St. Athanasius says, is "a strange and fearful mystery, hidden from men." That is, it is a mystery where the souls go. Based on the Holy Scripture and our Patristic Tradition, let us seek the path that souls follow after the death of the body.

The Holy Scripture mentions Hades as a place where the souls of sinners dwell. It is a place of darkness. However, the Holy Scripture also speaks of Paradise, the place where the righteous will remain after the Second Coming. St. Athanasius tells us: "The souls of sinners are in Hades, while the souls of the righteous are near God, and after the Second Coming of the Lord, they will be in Paradise." St. John Chrysostom informs us that "with death, the souls are led to a certain place." But what could this place be? The concept of place is worldly. However, God is beyond containment. Souls, too, have no shape and do not occupy space. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, our Lord Himself says that the soul of the poor Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham. This is an anthropomorphic expression, meaning that the souls were in a good place. St. John Chrysostom says that the souls "are where the only eternal and only immortal One is, the Creator of souls and bodies, where God is," and they await the fearful day of the Second Coming. The philosopher and martyr Justin states that the souls of the pious remain in a better place, while the souls of sinners remain in a worse place, awaiting the time of Christ’s coming. St. Gregory of Nyssa advises: "Do not fear Hades as a place, but as a state of incorporeal life," that is, a life without a specific form. This state of waiting is called the intermediate state of souls.

Intermediate State

Let us examine some characteristics of the intermediate state. After death, the partial judgment takes place. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, it is mentioned that as soon as they died, they were judged and placed in their appropriate place—the rich man in fiery Gehenna and, opposite him, the poor Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. This judgment is temporary, as the great and final judgment is expected at the Second Coming, when the bodies will be resurrected, reunited with their souls, and appear before the Judge. In the partial judgment, only the soul is judged, not the body, which has been given over to corruption. Thus, the temporary judgment is the first characteristic of the intermediate state.

The second characteristic of the intermediate state is a condition of waiting. The souls await the final judgment; however, as the Fathers of the Church say, they may improve their state through the great mercy of the Lord and under certain conditions. Someone might say, "But in Hades, there is no repentance." How, then, can souls expect any improvement in their condition? First, we must affirm that we all believe in the great mercy of God. God is exceedingly compassionate, loving toward mankind, and abundant in mercy; He is not limited by anything or anyone.

Our Holy Orthodox Church, based on a series of serious Scriptural considerations, concludes that it has the right to offer prayers and memorial services to God for the departed faithful. These are effective only in cases where people believed in Christ but, for reasons beyond their will, either did not have the opportunity to confess their sins, though they desired to do so, or were not given the chance to express their repentance by approaching the sacrament of repentance and confession.

The dogmatic theologians of our Church assert that unrepentant souls do not benefit at all from the supplications and prayers of the Church. Professor Andreas Theodorou writes: "The supplications and memorial services that are performed cannot save the unrepentant soul, which, in the intermediate state, is in the vestibule of hell and suffers according to the measure of judgment imposed upon it by God."

But who among men can say with certainty that a fellow human being was faithless or died unrepentant? Only God knows the inner depths of each soul. Only He knows whether someone is a conscious unbeliever or an atheist. Many times, we make mistaken judgments. For this reason, our Church, not only because we do not know the inner state of each person’s soul but also because she is a compassionate mother who cares for her children, prays and offers memorial services for all the departed, entrusting the fate of each person into the hands of God.

The third characteristic of the intermediate state is that it serves as a foretaste, either of reward or of punishment. That is, the partial judgment that takes place after death grants souls the ability to experience in advance either the joy of the reward they will receive at the Second Coming or the sorrow of the punishment that awaits them.

Saint Athanasius assures us that the righteous, after their death, experience a "partial enjoyment," while sinners undergo a "partial torment." He gives the example of a king who invites someone to a banquet and says, "On such and such a night, I expect you to come to the palace, where I will host a banquet for you." The person who receives the invitation feels an inner joy, a sense of satisfaction. He eagerly anticipates the moment when he will go there and experience the honor and glory of sitting at the same table with the king. This is one instance where there is a foretaste of joy.

On the other hand, suppose you have done something wrong, and you are arrested and about to be judged. You are imprisoned and told that you must wait for the judge to arrive. During this waiting period, you feel sorrow—you experience a foretaste of the punishment that is to come. This foretaste varies in each case. Saint Basil the Great says, "The enjoyment of the Righteous will have different levels; it will be on various degrees—God will honor some greatly and others less."

The souls of the Righteous, says Saint Gregory the Theologian, contemplate and have a foretaste of blessedness. Saint Justin, the philosopher and martyr, says, "The souls of the Righteous remain in a better place, while the souls of sinners remain in a worse place, awaiting the great judgment that is to follow."

 

Greek source: https://www.pemptousia.gr/2022/04/pou-pigenoun-ke-pou-paramenoun-i-psiches-meta-ton-thanato/