The Scariest Words of The Soul After Leaving the Body
Сarelessness is the most dangerous demon, but the pain from his pitchfork can only be felt after death
This story is based on a real case told by a remarkable Orthodox Christian missionary, Priest Oleh Stenyayev in one of his sermons.
Back in Soviet times, he personally knew a man named Seraphim, who spent 20+ years in Stalin’s concentration camps for his beliefs.
At the time when he lived at liberty (about the end of the 20th and beginning of the 30s of the 20th century), he worked in the fire department. He had a brother named Nikolay.
Seraphim was very concerned that his brother was not attending church. Instructing his brother he said: go to church, pray, don’t lose time. Brother Nicholas answered
“When I will be as old as our mother and father, I promise you Seraphim, I will go to church, I will pray, confess, and receive communion”
One day when Seraphim heard another such excuse from his brother, under some hidden compulsion he said to his brother:
“Nikolay, don’t be late!”
About two or three days after this conversation, the fire department, where Seraphim served, received a call:
Hello, I am sorry, is Seraphim your brother? He was taken to the hospital in serious condition with multiple spinal fractures, please come!
Seraphim got permission to leave work early and went to the hospital. There he found a doctor who came out of the operating room and said
“We tried to do everything we could, but multiple fractures of the spinal column were caused by the accident. Your brother died”…
They took the body home (it was customary at that time), washed it, changed his clothes, and put him in a coffin. By 4 a.m. people began to scatter to their rooms and go to bed.
Seraphim decided to sit next to his brother in the chair alone. He told the priest that as soon as he sat down in the chair, the house was silent, and suddenly he fell into a dreamlike vision.
He saw a young, healthy, and handsome Nikolay.
Nikolay approached his brother sitting in the chair and said
“ Sima Sima, do you hear me, I’m late!!!”
Seraphim shuddered, still sitting in his chair, his brother’s dead body lying next to him.
If a man is late for work, he has to write an explanatory note.
If a person is late for a meeting with another person, he can apologize.
But if a person is carried away by the transience of events and doesn’t make the most important and necessary decision in this life, to reconcile with his Creator, he will never be able to do it again!
The point of no return for any person is a physical death because when a person is dead he doesn’t have an instrument of correction:
he will not be able to fast, which could help in overcoming sinful passions.
will not be able to offer fast humble prayers that require a feat, (to limit himself from mental and bodily pleasures, from which prayers gain more power.
he will no longer be able to reconcile with those whom he has offended, whom he has wronged.
he can no longer bear worthy “fruits of repentance”.
he can no longer give alms, help the needy, or sacrifice himself for the good of others.
finally, he cannot participate in the gracious sacraments of the Church, through which he is united with God and purified!
We do not need to be an exorcist to cast out the demon of carelessness from our souls and life. But we have to do it, if we do not want to find ourselves in the place of Seraphim’s brother, Nikolay, and not repeat his terrible words:
“My brother, my brother, I am too late!”
A second very similar real-life incident was told to me by my grandfather. He, in turn, heard this story from a priest who read it on a piece of paper cut from a newspaper that was kept in a book.
Two old friends met in an airport waiting room. We don’t know their names, but let’s call them John and David for convenience.
John asked David:
Hey, my dear friend! How are you? What do you do?
David, answering this question, among other things mentioned:
I attend church, how about you? Do you go to church?
Well, nowadays such a question may seem inappropriate to some, but at that time and between these old friends there was nothing intrusive about it. David had nothing against faith, rather was sympathetic to it.
But he thought that faith, God, and his own soul could wait because he considered that success and business were more relevant in that phase of his life. He also added:
When I have more free time from work, then I will take up the matter.
Maybe closer to old age - he added.
During this conversation, the men heard the announcement that David’s flight was about to leave.
David, tightly grasping the handle of his suitcase, rose convulsively from his seat and headed toward the gate:
Sorry my friend, I have to go, it was nice to meet you. We’ll talk about this sometime!
John remained seated in the waiting room. While waiting for his flight, he was deep in thought. A short time later he hears a voice announcement: flight number “***” has crashed.
As you can probably guess, it was John’s flight.
It’s a difficult and sensitive subject, and it’s not necessary to speak pleasantly about it. My goal is to prick myself and you with these stories.
Such narratives should be a bucket of cold water poured over our heads that should awaken each of us from a careless sleep.
We can’t change everything overnight, but we can start making dramatic changes in this direction now.
Not sometime later, because then there will be “later” again. Or there won’t be one at all!
With few exceptions, each of us has our own figurative plane, stepping on which we don’t even realize that it is the last one. It could be a hospital bed, our car, a bedroom, a bathroom.
Recently I read in the news how a man died in a car while passing his driver’s license test. This poor guy at the age of full dawn certainly didn’t plan his death in this place.
Here are three more examples of very unexpected deaths from news reports that have happened to people recently:
A 73-year-old man died while getting a haircut at a barbershop
A woman died of pulmonary edema due to a punctured lung from a botched liposuction.
35 women died of hyperhydration. She drank 2 liters of water in just 20 minutes in the extreme heat, which her body could not handle.
Should we be afraid of death?
No!
Should we fear sudden death?
No, if our soul is ready to stand before our Creator and answer for our deeds, words or thoughts.
I am a very sinful man and I am afraid to die for that reason. But no matter how weak we are, we can at least begin the path of correction, the path of repentance.
God sees the intentions of our hearts, He sees our strengths, abilities, and traumas! I believe that he takes this into account, I feel it myself, and I am grateful to Him for this, for His Divine patience with me.
I am a very passionate person, but passionate does not mean irreversible, the main point is to start, and start today. I, like you, with only one sincere desire can start with these things (or at least a part of them) today:
to sin less often, e.g. leave sin completely on fast days, Wednesdays and Fridays, and on major feast days 🤏
to recognize my sin rather than trying to justify it 😔
if I find it hard to make myself pray long prayers, I can start praying shorter but more frequent prayers 🙏
to try to do acts of mercy but in secret 🤫
to try to make amends for my sins if I have harmed others 🙇
to completely leave all bad habits (sins) that I can quit now.🛑
to try not to judge other people 🤐
to try to accept the circumstances of life that God sent me. Often difficulties and sicknesses are intended to help us get rid of sin or avoid the temptation to fall into it 🆗
first, we need to fulfill at least one of God’s commandments. Can we start by not saying the name of the Lord in vain, as well as the names of other saints? 🙅♂️
the names of the devil, demons, and profanity are also included here. Calling the name of the demon, you call him to you, and you create problems for yourself 🙅🏻
We need to learn not to take offense at people. This is very difficult, but it contributes to our humility and salvation!
They🤬 — 😐You!
Even if I begin to do this, I realize that it does not guarantee the salvation of my soul, but I also realize that God wants to see the sincere intentions of my heart, not just verbal regrets. It’s better than nothing, better than total relaxation. After all, if I do not begin to do even small things, I will not be able to succeed in great things. Good intention and correction must become a habit. We should love it, we should learn to notice and rejoice in the fruits of correction. I wish us today to become on the path of correction, to start moving in a bright direction. So that the sad story of Nikolay, Seraphim’s brother, does not happen to us! And so that when our souls cross the threshold of death, we will not have to lament with hopeless sadness:
“My friend, I am late!!!”
O Lord, Most Holy Mother of God, all the Saints and Angels, keep us from being late!