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BLAGO Fund: Archives of Serbian Medieval Orthodox Treasure:
Ravanica . MileÅ¡eva . Manasija . Studenica . GraÄanica . St. Peter's Church . Pillars of St. George . Sopoćani
Ravanica . MileÅ¡eva . Manasija . Studenica . GraÄanica . St. Peter's Church . Pillars of St. George . Sopoćani
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Some years ago, on my way home from Kansas City, I stopped at a place for food and gasoline. Browsing among some books after my meal, my eye caught the title of a paperback book on the rack called Life After Life. It is that title which I intend to use here. The book was an interesting one. If I recall correctly, it was written by a medical doctor, who described his observations from several medical cases and related the experiences of others who were also somehow connected with the phenomenon, describing the experiences of people who were dying, or who had been pronounced clinically dead but were somehow revived. The book would no doubt be interesting reading for many, dispelling for more than a few the dread that they may feel toward the approaching end of life. One asks the appropriate question, When does the conscious self-awareness of existence cease in a rare moment of life crisis, be it through accident, sickness, or some other situation, and then pass into some kind of memory, to be recalled later in some dreamlike vision? It is a positive, highly personal, and unrepeatable experience seldom shared with others. Altogether unique, it is incomparable to any other sort of human experience. The book recounts the experience of a person who employs a scientific approach within a clinical environment. One gets the impression that body and soul are interacting in a moment between life and death‹or is it between death and life? This is not even pare psychology in the usual meaning of the word. It is my impression that it is somewhat above that. The soul sees the body from a distance and then re-enters the body, at which moment life is restored! Let us go one step further to see what St. Paul says in this respect: For we know that if the earthly tent in which we dwell is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting iton we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (2 Cor. 5:1-5) Let us go further on this subject and hear what the Author of life has said to us: Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1-4) This is one of Jesus' last speeches to his disciples. What sort of place is he going to prepare for you and me? Is it some kind of universal place where all exist together, to be immersed in a whole the way some philosophical systems advocate? No! What Jesus reveals is a personal place in heaven. It means that you will have a place, a room for yourself. Furthermore, it means you will have a body for yourself, having immortality. It seems that there will be happiness of the soul, free from earthly apprehensions and an earthly body. In heaven are persons with individual bodies. What sort of body? Here the church teaches us that each soul will be united by the power of God to a body identical to the one inhabited in this life. But the risen body will be without any defect of human nature; it will be invested with the special qualities of a glorified spiritual body. This doctrine is the eleventh article of our Creed, and one of the principle doctrines of our faith. This was clearly and emphatically taught by our Lord on various occasions (Matt. 22:23-32; John 5:28-29). Indeed, by having risen from the dead, Christ gave us a pattern and a pledge of our own resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20-23; 1 Thes. 4:13), for at his command on the last day, our bodies will be restored to us in a condition like unto his own glorified body, inhabited by our soul and immune from decay, suffering, and death (1 Cor. 15:42-44). In the next life, there will be no disembodied souls. This means that God created someone existing in this world who will be the same someone in the world to come although somewhat different. This someone will still be the person God created, meaning that the next life is compensation for this life. God does not create empty bodies, lacking soul or character. He creates individual persons, each imbued with spirit, will, personality, and character. You are a person, not simply some entity that disintegrates into something nebulous, absorbing everything and everybody. The tradition of the church expresses its belief through various prayers, which in themselves demonstrate our faith, such as in the preparing and serving of the pomen and parastos, and also in lighting candles as a symbol of life eternal whenever we enter the church. In lighting candles we remember our dear ones who have departed this life, and renew our faith and hope that we will again be with them, for our faith stands for life everlasting. |